1. 

m 

Q^eAmmd  miam-. 

■ 

AT    LOS  ANGELES 


N   MEMORIAM 


THE 


Protection  of  Majorities; 

OR, 

CONSIDERATIONS  RELATING   TO 
ELECTORAL  REFORM. 


amftfj  ©tfjcr  papers. 


BY 


JOSIAH    PHILLIPS    QUINCY. 


.'.  ^-     -^>     ,     ,      ,  ,. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS     BROTHERS. 

1S76. 


Copyright, 

By  Roberts   Brothers. 

1875. 


•         •  •  •         ••  • 

:  .....  . 

•  •  •    •      • 


•  ,•••• » • 


c  •     ••     • 


•  .  »      •- 


Cambridge  : 
Press  of  John  Wilson  and  Son. 


CONTENTS. 


Pagb 

Introductory     5 

The  Protection  of  Majorities 9 

Coercion     in     the      Later      Stages     of 

Education 67 

The  Function  of  Town  Libraries     ...  96 

The  Abuse  of  Reading 109 

The  Better  Samaritan 127 


212908 


INTRODUCTORY. 


A  S  a  contribution  not  inappropriate  to  the 
literature  of  our  National  Centennial,  I 
offer  some  views  of  the  direction  in  which 
electorial  reform  is  possible  in  America.  My 
conclusions  in  this  matter  were  embodietl  in 
a  paper  (much  of  which  is  here  reproduced) 
published  last  year  in  "  Old  and  New,"  a  maga- 
zine now  extinct.  I  was  agreeably  surprised 
at  the  interest  that  this  paper  awakened.  Per- 
sons wholly  unknown  to  me  and  of  widely 
different  pursuits  took  pains  to  express  their 
indorsement  of  the  remedy  it  proposed,  as  well 
as  their  general  acceptance  of  its  expositions 
of  the  failure  of  our  existing  methods  of  repre- 
sentation. I  was  not,  however,  prepared  to  find 
that  hope  of  relief  through  the  adoption  of 
Mr.  Hare's  system  of  voting  was  so  generally 
extinguished  in  the  breasts  of  our  more  thought- 
ful  electors.     The  late  Mr.   Mill's   unbounded 


6  INTRO  D  UCTOR  Y. 

admiration  of  this  elaborate  scheme  for  the 
representation  of  minorities  commended  it  to 
the  favor  of  many  patriotic  Americans,  who 
have  at  length  come  to  accept  Mr.  Mill's  own 
conclusion,  that  its  introduction  would  be 
scarcely  practicable  in  the  United  States. 

The  colloquial  form,  in  which  the  paper 
was  originally  written,  has  been  preserved, 
as  it  enables  me  to  give  the  objections  to  our 
caucus  system  very  much  as  I  have  heard  them 
uttered  by  voters  of  our  New-England  towns. 
That  venerable  bugbear,  "  the  tyranny  of  major- 
ities," has  ceased  to  frighten  the  leaders  of 
opinion  in  these  little  societies.  The^^  clearly 
see  that  it  is  tyranny  of  minorities  that  de- 
mocracy, with  its  present  methods,  is  calculated 
to  produce. 

The  Senator  who  fills  the  conventional  part 
of  objector  in  the  imaginary  conversation  is 
not  quite  the  man  of  straw  who  is  commonly 
cast  in  that  character.  My  views  upon  repre- 
sentation have  been  discussed  in  several  com- 
panies ;  and  such  objections  as  they  elicited 
I  have  stated  as  accurately  as  I  could,  and 
answered  as  well  as  I  know  how.  If  my  Jour- 
nalist might   utter   himself  as   wiselj^  as  some 


INT  ROD  UCTOR  V.  T 

gentlemen  of  liis  profession  whom  I  occasion- 
ally meet,  the  most  exacting  reader  would  con- 
fess that  he  was  worth  reporting. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  draught  an  act  of 
legislation  that  should  embody  the  suggestions 
of  the  following  pages.  But  it  is  not  time  to 
attempt  this  ;  and  it  wovild  require  more  tlian 
one  mind  to  do  it  in  the  best  way.  What 
is  here  said  is  submitted,  not  as  a  system, 
but  as  suggestions  in  aid  of  a  system.  The 
first  step  is  to  concentrate  public  opinion  upon 
the  urgent  necessity  of  reform,  and  then  to 
agree  upon  the  direction  in  which  it  may 
be  practicable.  Whether  a  philosopher,  put 
under  bonds  to  construct  an  unassailable 
Utopia,  would  adopt  our  theory  of  government, 
is  a  question  which  in  this  present  year  of 
grace  we  shall  do  well  to  put  aside.  For  my 
own  part,  I  accept  the  American  principle  of 
government  by  majorities  with  all  cordiality, 
confident  that  we  may  constantly  eliminate  its 
evils  by  improving  its  methods. 

The  other  papers  in  this  volume  were  con- 
tributed to  the  periodical  already  mentioned, 
and  may  be  set  down  as  "  padding,"  if  the 
reader  can  find  no  better  use  for  them. 


Political  liberty  depends  everywhere  upon  the  free  ac- 
tion and  frequent  and  genuine  manifestation  of  the  public 
will;  but  the  free  action  and  genuine  manifestation  of  that 
will  depend  upon  the  mode  of  proceeding  observed  in  going 
through  the  several  stejis  that  must  be  taken  before  any 
such  result  can  be  produced.  .  .  .  Without  any  regulations 
at  all,  a  general  will,  or  pretended  general  will,  may  come 
now  and  then  to  be  declared.  But  of  wliat  sort  1  Such  an 
one  as  the  will  of  him  who  gives  his  purse  to  save  his  life, 
or  signs  a  deed  he  never  read,  or  takes  an  oath  with  an  et 
caeteia  at  the  end  of  it,  is  to  the  free  and  enlightened  will 
of  the  individual.  —  Jekemt  Bextham:  Essay  on  Political 
Tactics. 

The  integrity  of  the  suffrage  is  constantly  assailed,  elec- 
tions are  secured  by  bribery,  office  is  openly  sold  and  pur- 
chased, and  every  political  triumph  is  succeeded,  or  rather 
preceded  and  influenced,  by  a  scramble  for  the  spoils.  In- 
stead of  a  government  by  the  people,  we  are  threatened,  if 
the  threat  be  not  already  fulfilled,  with  an  oligarchy  of  dema- 
gogues, for  which  a  decent  constitutional  monarchy  would 
be  welcome.  —  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody  :  Harvard  Baccalaureate 
Sermon  for  1875. 


THE  PIIOTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 


IV /TINISTER.  Then,  if  there  be  no  objec- 
tion, we  will  renew  the  discussion  that 
was  interrupted  last  week.  Our  friend  the 
Journalist  was  asked  to  prepare  an  essay  upon 
representation  that  should  give  his  views  u],)on 
the  subject,  as  well  as  elicit  ours.  Well,  sir, 
are  we  to  be  favored  with  one  of  those  elabor- 
ate and  stately  compositions  which  all  friendly 
critics  confess  are  "  highly  creditable  to  Ameri- 
can literature  "  ? 

Journalist.  You  will  get  nothing  of  the  sort 
from  me.  What  I  have  to  say  must  be  given 
in  an  easy  conversational  way,  or  not  at  all. 
Let  us  submit  the  essential  elements  of  the 
question  to  the  common  sense  of  common  peo- 
ple.    I  have  no  essay  to  read  to  you,  but  only 

1* 


10     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

a  little  story.  I  want  to  do  just  what  the  law- 
yers do  when  a  legal  principle  is  questioned,  — 
feign  a  case  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  light 
upon  doubtful  points.  The  fact  is,  my  atten- 
tion was  caught  the  other  day  by  this  announce- 
ment which  I  cut  from  one  of  our  exchanges :  — 

We  are  gratified  to  learn  that  Madame  Rougelot, 
a  medium  of  distinction,  has  recently  been  entranced 
by  the  spirit  of  -liEsop. 

I  could  not  help  wondering  whether  the 
old  story-teller  proposed  to  reform  our  modern 
world  with  fables  adapted  to  its  instruction. 
Surely  the  resources  of  that  venerable  vehicle 
for  edification  have  not  been  exhausted.  The 
fable  is,  after  all,  a  very  convenient  form  for 
reo'isterino-  certain  <]jeneralizations  from  our  ex- 
perience ;  and  I  was  rash  enough  to  try  ray 
hand  at  it.  No,  I  have  not  attempted  to  imi- 
tate that  terse  and  concentrated  way  of  putting 
things  for  which  ^sop  used  to  be  remarkable. 
My  fable  must  be  supposed  to  be  given  during 
a  period  when  Madame  Rougelot  was  not  under 
perfect   control,  and   spoke  with   that   diffuse- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     11 

ness  which  seems  to  be  necessary,  when,  as 
we  are  so  often  told,  "  the  conditions  are  un- 
fa%'orable." 

Senator.     What  title  do  you  give  your  fable  ? 

Journalist.  I  have  not  thought  of  that  yet. 
Let  me  see  :  till  I  think  of  a  better  name,  I 
will  call  it 

THE   MANAGER'S   MILLENNIUM. 

A  certain  political  manager,  having  taken  several 
glasses  too  much  in  celebration  of  a  successful  elec- 
tion, repaired  to  the  town-hall,  where  his  fellow-citi- 
zens had  assembled,  and  harangued  them  after  this 
fashion :  — 

"  While  offering  my  congratulations  upon  the  re- 
cent triumphs  of  our  glorious  democracy,  I  feel  con- 
strained to  remind  you  how  far  we  still  are  from 
enjoying  the  manifold  blessings  which  our  methods 
of  representation  should  be  made  to  secure.  Our 
exquisite  caucus  machinery  —  so  admirably  calculated 
to  promote  the  government  of  the  people  by  the 
people  —  should  do  much  more  for  you  than  it  has 
yet  accomplished.  No,  my  friends,  I  will  not  under- 
value what  you  have  obtained.  You  are  graciously 
permitted  to  recognize  the  claims  of  Mr.  Smoothman 
to   represent  you  in  Congress  ;  and  in  your  name  we 


12     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

can  put  Mr.  Anything  into  the  General  Court.  As 
my  remarks  will  be  telegraphed  to  all  parts  of  our 
glorious  Union,  I  borrow  these  names  from  Bunyan's 
comprehensive  directory,  which  is  good  for  every 
locality.  I  allow  that  we  have  no  difficulty  in  making 
Mr.  Byends  Superintendent  of  Highways,  and  in 
permitting  his  brother  and  cousins  to  spend  your 
money  as  County  Commissioners.  These  offices  are, 
of  course,  filled  as  the  intelligence  of  this  intelligent 
community  has  dictated.  The  Sovereign  Will  of  the 
People  (cajiitals  here,  Mr.  Reporter)  designates  the 
men  who  occupy  these  places  of  trust.  But,  alas ! 
my  friends,  it  grieves  me  to  remember  how  many 
of  your  servants  are  not  yet  elected  in  this  fair  and 
impartial  way.  There,  for  instance,  is  old  Dr.  Faith- 
ful, who  has  held  the  office  of  leading  physician  to 
this  community  for  twenty  years  past.  Rich  and 
poor  insist  upon  sending  for  him,  and  will  see  no 
one  else  if  he  can  be  had.  I  estimate  that  you  pay 
for  his  services  not  far  from  four  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  This  is  all  wrong.  Ksx.  office  of  such  value 
should  be  in  the  gift  of  the  people.  Its  occupant 
should  be  nominated  and  elected  every  year  in  the 
usual  way.  Suppose  we  had  had  an  office  of  chief 
town  physician,  with  a  salary  of  four  thousand  dollars, 
drawn  from  the  public  treasury :  do  you  suppose 
that  such  a  man  as  Faithful  could  have  monopolized 
it  for  a  score  of  years  ?     The  just  principle  of  rota- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     13 

tion  alone  would  have  forbidden  it.  Why,  the  old 
fellow  does  not  belong  to  a  single  secret  society,  and 
has  no  political  influence  whatever.  His  claims  could 
not  be  weighed  for  a  moment  against  those  of  young 
Dr.  Gripeman,  who  has  done  so  much  work  upon 
our  party  committee,  and  who  has  discovered  in  a 
common  pasture-weed  an  infallible  cure  for  all  dis- 
eases. Just  give  us  a  chance  to  use  our  caucus 
engineering,  —  I  mean,  of  course,  let  us  appeal  to  the 
great  heart  of  the  people,  —  and  we  will  soon  put 
Faithful  on  the  shelf,  and  give  our  useful  Dr.  Gripe- 
man  his  turn  at  the  pay  and  patronage.  Then  there 
is  the  case  of  Deacon  Honesty,  our  leading  grocer: 
I  have  no  doubt  that  he  lays  by  a  snug  thousand  of 
our  dollars  every  year  from  the  profits  of  his  busi- 
ness. Our  people,  you  see,  have  got  into  the  way 
of  trading  with  him,  just  because  they  believe  in  his 
integrity,  and  feel  sure  that  his  goods  are  what  he 
represents  them  to  be.  Other  grocers,  from  time  to 
time,  come  into  our  town,  drive  beautifully-painted 
carts  abQut  the  streets,  and  make  scarcely  enough 
to  pay  for  their  advertisements.  Would  that  there 
were  an  office  of  chief  grocer  to  be  filled  by  the 
suffrages  of  this  free  people  !  I  have  a  friend  in  that 
business  whose  work  has  been  most  important  in 
sending  Smoothman  to  Congress,  and  who  always 
keeps  a  glass  of  something  good  in  the  back  shop. 
Were  there   such  an  office  as  I  have  suggested,  who 


14     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

doubts  that  my  good  friend  Mr.  Littlegrace  would 
receive  the  party  nomination  he  so  richly  deserves? 
Why  are  we  not  able  to  put  Robert  Starveling  and 
Tom  Snout  into  the  profitable  places  of  chief  tailor 
and  head  tinker  to  this  community  ?  They  are  genial, 
good  fellows ;  always  ready  to  leave  their  business  to 
amuse  us  with  private  theatricals,  for  which  they  have 
such  remarkable  talents.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to 
contrast  their  hearty  and  popular  traits  with  the 
uninteresting  demeanor  of  the  persons  who  trample 
upon  the  will  of  the  people  by  keeping  possession  of 
these  offices.  But,  as  a  crowning  outrage  upon  your 
liberties,  consider  the  very  desirable  position  which 
is  held  by  Reverend  Mr.  Greatheart,  a  person  who 
has  never  been  indorsed  by  a  nominating  convention, 
or  voted  for  at  the  polls.  Have  you  any  idea,  fellow- 
citizens,  what  an  amount  of  money  annually  passes 
throuirh  that  man's  hands  ?  Just  because  those  whom 
Heaven  has  prospered  trust  his  judgment,  while  the 
poor  and  unfortunate  believe  in  his  tenderness  and 
comjjassion,  he  has  the  distribution  of  charitable  funds, 
which  I  confess  that  my  own  fingers  are  itching  to 
handle.  There  should,  of  course,  be  a  town  almoner, 
chosen  by  the  people,  who  would  know  how  to  dis- 
tribute these  moneys  '  where  they  would  do  most 
good.'  Were  such  an  oflice  to  be  created,  I  should, 
in  all  confidence,  offer  myself  as  your  candidate.  I 
feel  certain  that  I  could  carry  the  caucus,  and  secure 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     15 

the  nomination.  IVIy  election  would  follow  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  ;  and,  with  the  means  thus  placed  at 
my  disposal  by  the  will  of  a  free  community,  I  would 
reward  my  friends  and  punish  my  enemies,  and  vindi- 
cate the  beauty  of  representative  government  before 
the  world." 

Having  soared  to  this  eloquent  climax,  the  orator 
was  overcome  by  his  feelings,  and  sank  into  a  chair. 
A  shrewd  farmer  who  was  present  concluded  the 
meeting  with  substantially  these  remarks :  — 

"  We  have  to  thank  our  friend,  or,  to  speak  more 
correctly,  the  stimulant  he  has  taken,  for  the  most 
suggestive  and  encouraging  speech  he  ever  uttered. 
It  should  go  far  to  dispel  that  distrust  of  popular 
government  which  political  corruption  has  so  often 
induced.  Why,  it  never  occurred  to  me,  till  the  gen- 
tleman committed  the  blunder  of  pointing  it  out,  that 
our  leading  doctor,  minister,  and  grocer,  are  indeed 
chosen  by  the  people,  and  kept  in  their  offices  without 
any  nonsensical  talk  of  '  claims '  or  '  rotation.'  They 
are  recliosen  every  year  from  among  many  competi- 
tors, and  represent  the  intelligent  voice  of  this  com- 
munity. And  it  is  just  as  evident  that  the  monopolizers 
of  our  political  offices  are  not  chosen  by  the  people 
at  all.  They  are  appointed  by  managers.  They  rep- 
resent, not  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  but  the 
interests  of  demagogues  and  wire-pullers.  There  must 
be  some  way   to   break   out  of  the  snares  that  have 


16     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

been  set  for  us.  Let  us  take  courage,  my  neighbors, 
and  demand  some  better  system  of  nominating  and 
voting.  Why  should  not  the  men  we  are  said  to 
choose  as  legislators  represent  the  sense  of  the  ma- 
jority as  creditably  as  the  men  we  really  choose  as 
physicians,  or  lawyers,  or  blacksmiths  ?  We  can  afford 
to  trust  the  people  ;  but  we  can  no  longer  trust  poli- 
tieians  with  their  caucus  machinery." 

Mercliant.  The  moral  of  your  fable  seems  to 
accord  with  a  bit  of  advice  once  given  by  Gro- 
tius  in  answer  to  the  question,  what  writer  upon 
politics  was  best  worth  studying.  The  inquirer 
was  directed  to  procure  a  volume  of  blank  paper, 
use  his  own  eyes  and  ears,  and  set  down  what 
lie  learned. 

Journalist.  You  have  caught  my  meaning. 
We  were  puzzling  the  other  night  over  the 
problem  of  securing  a  just  representative  govern- 
ment, and  almost  gave  it  up  as  insoluble.  But 
did  we  go  to  work  in  the  best  way  ?  One  is 
easily  frightened  while  considering  the  vast  ex- 
tent of  our  American  territory,  and  the  different 
requirements  of  its  inhabitants.  Suppose  we 
throw  these   complexities   out   of   tire   inquiry. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     17 

Let  US  give  up  surveying  mankind  from  China 
to  Peru,  notwithstanding  the  recommendation  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  sonorous  stanza.     We  all  know 

this  New-England  town  of  X ,  with  its  nine 

thousand  inhabitants,  pretty  well  by  this  time. 
Now,  if  any  arrangement  can  be  suggested 
whereby  the  better  representation  of  tliis  com- 
munity would  be  secured,  the  chances  are  that 
it  would  be  aj)plicable  to  many  similar  commu- 
nities ;  and  even  those  constituencies  whose 
ignorance  and  lawlessness  would  prevent  any 
present  improvement  from  its  adoption,  might, 
in  time,  grow  up  to  realize  its  advantages. 

Senator.  What  in  the  world  is  coming  now  ! 
One  more  adaptation  of  Mr.  Hare's  scheme  of 
minority  representation,  I  suppose.  That  sort 
of  thing  is  well  enough  to  amuse  college  profess- 
ors ;  but  we  practical  men  understand  that  any 
attempt  to  run  good  men  into  office  without 
organizing,  drilling,  and  paying,  is  moonshine. 
But  let  us  have  your  patent  device  for  dispens- 
ing with  managers,  with  its  wheelwork  all  ad- 
justed and  in  running  order. 

B 


18     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

Journalist.  I  have  no  sucli  plan  to  propose. 
I  can  only  indicate  the  direction  in  which  our 
deliverance  must  be  sought.  I  accept  the  ver- 
dict, ''  not  practicable,"  which  Mr.  Hare's  in- 
teresting and  ingenious  system  for  representing 
minorities  has  elicited  in  America.  It  is  not  in 
accordance  with  our  traditions,  and  the  revolu- 
tion in  public  opinion  necessary  to  adopt  it  is 
not  to  be  expected.  Our  people  have  been 
accustomed  to  consider  the  representation  of 
majorities  as  the  essence  of  democracy ;  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  uproot  this  conviction,  even 
if  it  were  desirable  to  do  so.  But  I  am  not  sure 
that  it  is  desirable.  Minorities,  although  not 
represented  in  legislatures,  will  always  modify 
majorities,  and  restrain  their  action.  Our  fathers 
were  right  in  preferring  territorial  to  what  is 
called  personal  representation.  The  influence 
of  persons  in  the  minority  is  most  effectively  ex- 
erted directly  upon  their  neighbors.  We  want 
their  educational  influence  just  where  they  stand. 
In  opposition  to  the  views  of  Mr.  Hare,  I  believe 
in  the  political  organization  of  localities.     The 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     19 

separation  into  classes  is  the  danger  from  which 
we  have  most  to  fear.  jNIr.  Hare's  sj'stem,  it 
seems  to  me,  would  tend  to  encourage  this :  an 
honest  local  representation  reduces  it  to  a  mini- 
mum. Whenever  we  split  into  college  cliques, 
foreigners'  cliques,  workingmen's  cliques,  and  so 
on,  we  shall  be  apt  to  fill  our  legislatures  with 
narrow,  headstrong  men,  who  feel  secure  of  their 
places.  They  will  be  class-representatives,  not 
representatives  of  the  people.  They  will  cany 
out,  if  they  can,  any  class-policy  to  which  they 
may  be  pledged,  despite  the  bitter  speeches 
which  equally  extreme  class-delegates  will  have 
the  privilege  of  making  at  them.  But  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  any  policy  could  be  fairly  tried 
under  such  an  arrangement.  It  is  surely  desira- 
ble that  opinions  honestly  held  by  a  majority  of 
the  people  should  be  tested  by  experiments 
made  under  favorable  conditions.  Such  con- 
ditions, however,  could  scarcely  be  secured  in 
the  "  happy  family "  of  legislative  objectors 
which  Mr.  Hare  would  exhibit.  I  have  found, 
too,  that  our  American  advocates  of  minority 


20     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

representation  are  apt  to  make  admissions  whicli 
discredit  their  remedy.  Here  is  Mr.  Fisher's 
pamphlet  upon  "  Reform  in  our  Municipal  Elec- 
tions." He  is  writing  in  1866,  and  tells  us  that 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  "  every  thing  is  ill 
done,  and  we  are  burdened  with  taxation  to 
the  very  limits  of  pressure."  And  then  a  few 
sentences  farther  on  we  find  this  significant  con- 
fession :  "  The  great  majority  of  the  voters  in 
our  city  are  trustworthy,  and  have  a  real  interest 
in  the  stability  of  property  and  the  economical 
administration  of  municipal  affairs."  Why,  then, 
ask  for  a  representation  of  minorities,  when  a 
real  representation  of  this  great  majority  of 
trustworthy  voters  would  meet  all  difiiculties? 

Minister.  But  might  not  local  elections  be 
conducted  with  advantage  upon  Mr.  Hare's 
method  ? 

Journalist.  So  long  as  caucus  nominations 
were  made,  I  think  that  the  managers  would  be 
astute  enough  to  cope  with  it.  They  would 
nominate  their  private  candidate,  with  a  list  of 
their    private    alternatives,    and    thrust     their 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     21 

printed  ballot  into  the  hands  of  voters  as  the 
regular  party  ticket. 

Merchant.  The  trouble  is,  that  too  many  of 
our  educated  men  have  come  to  despair  of  any 
tolerable  government  by  majorities.  An  eminent 
English  writer  has  recently  defined  democracy 
to  be  the  management  and  control  of  social 
arrangements  by  the  least-educated  classes,  by 
those  least  trained  to  foresee  and  measure  conse- 
quences. And  has  not  Carlyle  exhausted  the 
resources  of  language  in  pillorying  its  chaotic 
pretensions  ? 

Journalist.  If  democracy  seems  to  fit  Mr. 
Greg's  definition,  it  is  owing  to  our  imperfect 
arrangements  for  getting  at  its  real  will,  for 
penetrating  to  its  essential  heart.  But  put  it 
into  conditions  where  there  is  true  freedom  of 
thought  and  action,  and  Carlyle  himself  shall 
testify  to  the  promise  that  is  in  it.  Here  are 
the  Latter-Day  Pamphlets :  let  me  read  the  pas- 
saoe  I  was  thinking  of:  "Votes  of  men  are 
worth  collecting,  if  convenient.  True,  their 
opinions   are   generally   of    little    wisdom,   and 


22     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

can,  on  occasion,  reach  to  all  conceivable  and 
inconceivable  degrees  of  folly ;  but  their  in- 
stincts, where  these  can  be  deciphered,  are  wise 
and  human."  And  here  lies  the  impregnable 
defence  of  the  democratic  principle.  These  in- 
stincts  are,  on  the  whole  and  in  the  long-run, 
reliable.  To  represent  them  in  government  is 
to  secure  a  maximum  of  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  men.  But,  to  be  represented,  these 
instincts  must  be  deciphered;  and  how  to  do 
this  is  the  riddle  the  sphinx  proposes,  —  with 
the  old  death-penalty,  perhaps,  if  the  answer  is 
missed. 

Minister.  It  is  of  the  first  importance  to  clean 
the  meaning  of  the  word  "represent."  Perhaps 
some  of  you  have  seen  this  clever  little  book  by 
Mr.  Charles  Nordhoff,  called  "  Practical  Politics 
for  Young  People."  Let  me  read  a  manuscript 
note  that  I  thought  best  to  add  to  one  of  the 
chapters  before  giving  it  to  my  boys.  Young  Mr. 
Walter  Nordhoff  is  instructed  by  his  father  that 
ours  is  "  a  representative  government,  and  not 
a  government  of  the  ablest  men,"  —  a  phrase 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.    23 

which  carries  the  paralyzing  assumption  that  the 
two  must  be  forever  incompatible.  Youths  who 
are  taught  this  doctrine,  upon  beholding  our 
government  as  it  frequently  exists,  will  naturally 
shrug  their  shoulders,  declare  that  it  is  at  all 
events  representative,  and  abandon  all  hope  of 
improving  it.  But  are  our  American  govern- 
ments, such  as  we  commonly  see  them,  repre- 
sentative ?  This  is  the  previous  question,  which 
claims  a  just  precedence.  When  the  younger 
Mr.  Nordhoff  sees  some  "  dull  old  fiirmer"  who 
has  been  set  up  as  a  legislator,  —  perchance  to  be 
used  in  the  log-rolling  operations  of  knaves,  — 
he  is  told  to  remember  that  this  incompetent 
personage  represents  the  agricultural  interest, 
and  that  it  is  a  very  good  thing  he  is  not  greatly 
above  his  constituents.  "  He  knows  how  to 
speak  from  their  standpoint,"  says  his  father, 
"  and  they  have  a  right  to  be  heard."  Now, 
here  is  my  comment,  which  is  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  doctrine  of  our  fabulist :  — 

Avoid  the  error  of  supposing  that  the  majority  of 
your  fellow-citizens  do  not  wish  to  be  represented  by 


24     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

the  ablest  and  best  men  tliat  the  community  can  fur- 
nish. Plato  finely  says  that  the  mind  of  man  is  un- 
willingly deprived  of  truth.  It  is  no  less  true,  that, 
when  knaves  and  fools  are  conspicuous  in  government, 
the  people  are  unwillingly  deprived  of  representation. 
To  "  represent,"  my  dear  boys,  the  dictionary  will  tell 
you,  means  "  to  be  present  for."  Mr.  Emerson  has 
written  a  little  book  with  the  impressive  title,  "  Repre- 
sentative Men."  They  are  by  no  means  average  men 
whom  he  considers,  but  those  high  and  noble  souls 
whom  we  common  men  have  elected  to  represent  us, — 
Plato,  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  and  some  others.  Theo- 
logians have  confidently  given  to  Him  who  was  with- 
out sin  the  honorable  title  of  the  Representative  of  sin- 
ful humanity.  If  I  have  a  suit  in  court,  I  seek  dili- 
gently for  a  lawyer  of  ten  times  my  own  caj^acity  to 
represent  me  and  my  cause  aright.  Imagine  the  neigh- 
bors of  Dr.  Brown-Sequard  refusing  to  allow  him  to 
represent  them  by  the  sick-beds  of  their  loved  ones, 
because,  forsooth,  his  knowledge  was  greater,  and  his 
jaowers  of  observation  more  highly  trained,  than  their 
own !  If  you  see  a  constituency  which  is  nominally 
represented  by  a  "  dull  old  farmer  "  or  a  self-seeking 
knave,  beware  how  you  assume  that  you  know  the  real 
choice  of  the  people.  Dull  old  farmers,  if  they  are 
allowed  to  have  their  way,  had  much  rather  be  rep- 
resented by  an  intelligent  farmer  several  years  on 
the  right  side  of  his  dotage.     He  knows  how  to  speak 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     25 

from  their  standpoint  far  better  tlian  if  he  himself  were 
superannuated  and  infirm.  One  hundred  years  ago 
there  were  many  dull  old  farmers,  as  soi'did,  and  as 
little  picturesque  in  their  private  lives,  as  any  we  can 
find  to-day.  But  what  a  Congress  they  sent  to  New 
York  to  represent  them  !  —  Jefferson,  Lee,  Henry,  John 
and  Sam  Adams,  Jay,  Franklin,  and  others,  who  were 
scarcely  their  inferiors.  Well  might  Lord  Chatham 
declare  that  the  Continental  Congress  was  unsui'passed 
by  any  body  of  men  in  solidity  of  reasoning,  force  of 
sagacity,  and  wisdom  of  conclusion.  Dare  we  say  that 
these  men  did  not  represent  the  people  whose  interests 
were  intrusted  to  their  care?  If  the  conclusion  is  ever 
forced  upon  you  that  the  majority  does  not  really  wish 
to  put  forward  honest  and  able  men  as  its  representatives, 
then  democracy  is  a  delusion  ;  and  the  sooner  the  man  on 
horseback  tramples  over  it,  the  better  for  all  concerned. 

Journalist.  I  approve  what  jou  have  read. 
My  thesis  is,  that,  when  bad  and  incapable  men 
are  found  at  the  head  of  public  affairs,  it  is  not 
because  the  majority  is  represented,  but  because, 
in  some  way  or  other,  the  majority  is  deprived 
of  representation.  And  this  doctrine  has  no 
connection  with  any  Vox  populi.  Vox  Dei,  ab- 
surdity,   and    countenances   no    rhetorical   cant 

about  "  the  honest  majority."     Tlie  individuals 

2 


26      THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

coni]30sing  the  majority  are,  of  course,  indifferent 
honest.  They  are  governed  by  their  private  in- 
terests like  the  minority.  But  whereas  it  is  con- 
stantly for  the  interests  of  cliques  and  minori- 
ties to  put  knaves  and  simpletons  into  office,  it 
never  can  be  the  interest  of  the  majority  to  be 
represented  by  them.  Once  grasp  this  truth, 
and  you  will  see  that  the  solution  to  the  problem 
of  representation  does  not  lie  in  the  direction 
where  Mr.  Hare  and  others  have  sought  for  it. 
But  the  representation  of  the  majority  requires 
as  condition  precedent  the  'protection  of  the  ma- 
jority. The  majority  must  be  protected  by  the 
State,  very  much  as  the  court  protects  a  jury 
from  the  arts  of  unscrupulous  advocates,  and 
from  the  bribes  and  threats  with  which  private 
interests  stand  ready  to  assail  it. 

But  let  us  return  for  a  moment  to  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  fable.    Suppose  a  stranger  arrives 

in  this  town  of  X ,  and  wishes  to  select  the 

best  physician  from  among  the  ten  or  dozen 
practitioners  whose  signs  are  displayed  in  the 
streets.     Would  there  be  a  surer  way  of  dis- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     27 

covering  tlie  right  man  than  for  the  inquirer  to 
pass  a  morning  in  the  post-office,  and  put  the 
question  to  all  who  entered  ?  The  voters,  you 
see,  would  be  women  as  well  as  men,  poor  as 
well  as  rich,  foolish  as  well  as  wise.  Probably 
not  half  a  dozen  of  them  would  liave  any  knowl- 
edge of  anatomy  or  therapeutics ;  yet  I  would 
rather  trust  an  honest  majority-vote  of  these 
everj^-day  jDeople  than  the  Latin  certificate  of  a 
medical  college. 

Merchant.  You  would  be  right.  In  nineteen 
cases  out  of  twenty,  you  would  hit  the  man. 

Journalist.  Now,  if  we  went  deep  enough 
into  the  matter,  we  should  find  that  the  judg- 
ment of  some  score  of  instructed  persons  really 
designates  the  man  whom  the  majority  shall  rec- 
ognize and  pay  as  their  leading  doctor,  or,  if 
you  like,  as  their  leading  carpenter,  blacksmith, 
or  lawyer.  In  a  word,  it  is  the  sanction  of  the 
majority  to  a  selection  made  by  a  minority  that 
we  have  reason  to  trust. 

Mercha7it.  I  agree  that  the  social  decisions  of 
a  community  are  guided  by  those  whose  knowl- 


28     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

edge  entitles  them  to  deal  most  intelligently 
with  the  matter  in  hand. 

Journalist.  Yes  ;  and  you  will  find  this  true 
of  certain  political  decisions  which  the  managers 
do  not  care  to  control.  Take  the  public  libraries 
which  are  springing  up  all  over  New  England. 
Their  directors  are  chosen  by  a  popular  vote ; 
yet  you  will  find  them  to  be  the  most  suitable 
men  that  the  different  towns  can  furnish  ;  and 
nobody  thinks  of  turning  them  out  when  elec- 
tion-day comes  round.  The  reason  is,  that  as 
there  is  neither  pay  nor  patronage  attached  to 
these  places,  but  only  responsibility  and  sober 
work,  the  politicians  do  not  want  them.  They 
stand  out  of  the  way,  and  let  the  people  put  in 
their  best  men,  and  keep  them  in.  The  man- 
agers have  here  no  special  interests  as  managers, 
but  only  the  general  interests  of  citizens. 

Merchant.     This    is    quite    true    in    X ; 

though  I  confess  I  never  thought  of  its  signifi- 
cance. If  the  votes  of  Hodge  and  Patrick  con- 
firm the  selection  of  a  minority  when  the  best 
scholar  in  town  is  wanted   to  direct  a  library. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     29 

why  should  they  fail  us  when  a  legislator  of 
sound  sense  and  unquestioned  integrity  is  to  be 
provided  for  nation  or  state?  There  is  the 
school  committee  too.  We  are  apt  to  get  our 
best  men  upon  that  board ;  though  this  is  not 
always  the  case. 

Journalist.  The  explanation  is  obvious. 
There  is  a  small  payment  and  a  little  patronage 
attached  to  the  office  of  school-committee  man  ; 
and  its  attainment  is  held  to  be  the  first  step 
upon  the  ladder  of  political  preferment.  Still, 
as  it  is  the  lowest  step,  and  one  which  the  active 
politician  can  dispense  with,  its  possessors  more 
nearly  represent  the  people  than  when  the 
higher  offices  are  in  question. 

Senator.  We  can  all  agree  that  the  caucus 
is  abused ;  but  that  is  because  the  right  sort  of 
men  don't  come  to  it.  Not  long  ago,  the  saying 
of  Mr.  Tom  Hughes,  that  in  America  educated 
men  take  no  interest  in  politics,  was  going  the 
rounds  of  the  press.  Now,  if  this  is  true,  get- 
ting rid  of  the  caucus  will  not  make  things 
better. 


30     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

Journalist.  But  it  is  utterly  untrue.  Our 
educated  men  are  always  ready  to  give  unre- 
quited service  to  the  public,  when  it  can  be 
done  without  the  loss  of  self-respect,  and  when 
some  definite  good  can  be  accomplished.  Noth- 
ing is  more  hopeful  than  the  readiness  with 
which  our  best  citizens  will  interest  themselves 
in  public  work.  The  busiest  man-  in  the  town 
instantly  accepts  the  call  to  give  his  time  gra- 
tuitously to  the  formation  of  its  library.  The 
commission  which  is  appointed  to  revise  a  state 
constitution  or  a  city  charter  is  easily  composed 
of  men  whose  skill  and  intelligence  would  com- 
mand thousands,  were  they  wanted  for  private 
interests.  What  Mr.  Hughes  ought  to  have 
said  is  something  like  this :  Men  of  high  charac- 
ter and  special  intelligence  are  deprived  of  that 
influence  in  public  affairs  which  it  is  the  desire 
of  the  community  they  should  exercise. 

Merchant.  Here  are  some  sentences  by  Col. 
Higginson,  that  I  cut  from  the  paper  the  other 
day :  "  The  man  of  education  is  the  natural 
leader  of  American  aifairs.     Everybody  wishes 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.    31 

him  to  lead :  nobody  grudges  it.  He  has  nomi- 
nally but  one  vote  ;  and  he  certainly  needs  but 
one,  for  practically  he  has  a  thousand.  He  has 
such  opportunity  of  influence,  through  press  and 
platform,  that  his  mere  personal  vote  is  the 
smallest  element  in  his  power."  Now,  this  last 
sentence  declares  a  doctrine  which  I  cannot  in- 
dorse. I  deny  that  the  average  American  of 
sound  education  —  using  that  word  in  no  ped- 
ant's sense  —  has  these  wonderful  opportuni- 
ties. To  exert  political  influence  through  the 
press,  or  from  the  platform,  requires  exceptional 
gifts  and  special  training.  No  doubt  a  few  per- 
sons who  have  made  writing  a  profession,  and 
who  were  born  orators,  can  do  much  with  in- 
struments that  they  are  drilled  to  handle.  But 
what  am  I  to  do,  an  average  every-daj'-  citizen, 
who,  struggling  amid  the  fierce  competitions  of 
business,  suddenly  find  myself  seized  by  "  the 
garrote  of  the  caucus,"  as  "The  North- American 
Review  "  happily  calls  it?  It  is  mockery  to  tell 
me  that  I  have  full  liberty  to  hire  a  hall  and 
make  speeches,  or  that  there  is  no  law  to  pro- 


32     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

hibit  me  from  contributing  a  series  of  dashing 
leaders  to  the  newspapers. 

Senator.  Let  me  catechise  you  a  little.  You 
complain  that  you  have  no  adequate  representa- 
tion in  government.     You  vote,  I  suppose  ? 

Merchant.  Why,  yes :  I  generally  avail  my- 
self of  that  precious  privilege  of  a  freeman,  and 
indicate  which  of  two  professional  candidates  I 
think  least  objectionable. 

Senator.  Do  you  attend  either  of  the  party 
caucuses  ? 

Merchant.  Not  alwa^'s.  I  have  attended  a 
good  many  in  my  da}^ ;  but  my  hope  of  accom- 
plishing any  thing  through  their  agency  is  about 
extinct. 

Senator.  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  your  pres- 
ence at  primary  meetings  has  no  influence  in  the 
selection  of  candidates  ? 

Merchant.  I  mean  to  say  that  it  has  no  ap- 
preciable influence.  I  am  no  orator  ;  and,  even 
if  I  were,  it  would  be  little  to  the  purpose.  The 
chances  are,  that  I  find  the  hall  in  possession  of 
a  secret  society,  organized,  drilled,  and  ready  to 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     33 

thrust  its  printed  ballots  into  every  man's  hand. 
This  demonstration  is  the  result  of  work  that 
has  been  going  on  for  two  months  previous.  It 
is  a  matter  of  wire-pulling,  or  "  subsoiling,"  as 
the  last  cant  term  is. 

Senator.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  you 
should  go  to  work  two  months  before  the 
caucus,  and  pull  counter-wires. 

Merchant.  Now  you  ask  too  much.  I  have 
no  time  to  act  in  this  way ;  and  excuse  me  for 
saying  that  it  is  a  business  which  a  man  who 
respects  himself  scarcely  likes  to  undertake. 
Besides,  I  can  no  more  compete  with  a  profes- 
sional manager  than  I  can  with  a  professional 
rope-dancer.  The  State  has  undoubtedly  a  right 
to  ask  that  every  citizen's  character  and  judg- 
ment shall  be  felt  in  politics.  But  then  it  must 
provide  some  way  in  which  his  influence  may 
have  its  just  weight.  It  cannot  call  upon  him  to 
neglect  the  business  by  which  he  earns  his  bread, 
and  study  a  special  profession  which  is  utterly 
repugnant  to  his  taste,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
morality. 

2* 


34     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

We  have  all  read  the  admirable  sketch  of 
caucus  management  in  a  recent  number  of  "  Har- 
pers' Magazine."  Honestns  attends  a  primary 
meeting  with  the  single  desire  of  discharging  his 
political  duties.  He  is  cordially  welcomed  by 
the  managers,  who  assign  him  a  conspicuous 
place  in  their  proceedings.  The  end  of  it  is, 
that  "  one  of  the  most  disreputable  and  dishon- 
est of  public  sharks "  is  nominated  by  a  com- 
mittee of  which  Honestus  is  chairman,  and  his 
unsullied  name  is  printed  the  next  morning  as 
indorsing  political  profligacy  of  the  first  water. 
Now,  the  moral  Mr.  Curtis  offers  is  this  :  "  It  is 
necessary  to  begin  as  early  in  preparation  for 
action  as  the  rascals."  And  this  is  very  excel- 
lent advice  for  a  few  famous  writers  and  maGr- 
netic  orators,  whose  special  work  it  is  to  study 
public  opinion,  and  to  lead  it.  But,  for  the 
reasons  I  have  given,  the  average  over-worked 
citizen  cannot  acknowledge  this  immense  claim 
upon  his  time  and  activity.  Call  him  unpatriotic 
if  you  will :  we  must  take  human  nature  as  we 
find  it.     We  shall  never   secure  the  legitimate 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     35 

influence  of  his  character  and  good  sense  in 
politics  nntil  we  remove  the  difficulties  that  at 
present  beset  him. 

But  I  do  not  deny  that  I  have  power  to  in- 
fluence nominations.  Within  certain  limits,  I 
have  far  more  power  than  I  ought  to  have.  If  I 
give  a  thousand-dollar  check  to  be  used  in  se- 
curing a  special  nomination,  it  will  greatly  con- 
duce to  that  end.  To  be  sure,  I  may  be  outbid 
by  a  corporation  ready  to  give  two  thousand  to 
place  its  legislator  in  office.  Undoubtedly  the 
managers  sometimes  find  it  for  their  advantage 
to  supply  a  candidate  who  will  strengthen  their 
party  by  rallying  the  moral  forces  of  the  com- 
munity. But  this  must  always  be  the  excep- 
tion ;  for  such  a  candidate  will  owe  them  no 
allegiance,  and  can  never  be  used  for  their  pur- 
poses. 

Journalist.  I  was  struck  with  a  statement  in 
the  recently-published  Diary  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.  At  forty  years  of  age,  in  the  full  tide 
of  an  honorable  public  career,  he  writes  that  he 
had  never  made  a  speech  at  a  caucus  or  a  town- 


36     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.      . 

meeting,  and  that  lie  did  not  think  he  ever 
should.  Can  any  conspicuous  office-holder  at 
the  present  day  say  as  much?  —  unless,  indeed, 
he  is  a  man  of  large  wealth,  who  has  paid  other 
people  to  make  speeches  for  him. 

Senator.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  cant  talked 
about  the  influence  of  wealth  upon  legislation. 
Wealth  means  intelligence,  —  knowledge  of 
using  means  to  ends.  In  eight  cases  out  of  ten, 
the  things  that  capitalists  lobby  for  are  really 
for  the  interest  of  the  community.  You  may 
say  truly,  that  the  congressman  from  the  adjoin- 
ing district  —  a  man  who  has  the  respect  of  the 
whole  country  —  owes  his  election  to  the  money 
that  has  been  spent  in  carrying  it.  I  answer, 
that  the  money  could  not  have  been  spent  more 
acceptably  to  the  mass  of  the  people. 

Minister.  Nevertheless,  it  would  seem  to  be 
a  somewhat  shameful  confession,  that,  if  majori- 
ties are  to  be  represented,  a  public-spirited  mi- 
nority must  buy  them  the  privilege. 

Merchant.  Several  days  ago,  I  happened  to 
meet  a  gentleman  who  had  just  received  a  nomi- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.    37 

nation  for  a  political  office  to  which  no  salary 
was  attached.  He  told  me,  that,  although  he 
considered  it  his  duty  to  accept  any  position 
where  the  people  really  wanted  liira,  he  did  not 
feel  bound  to  pay  fifty  dollars  for  the  empty 
compliment  of  a  nomination.  He  went  on  to 
remind  me  that  this  fifty  dollars  (under  the 
name  of  an  assessment  for  campaign-expenses) 
was  the  open  and  legitimate  payment  exacted 
from  candidates  even  for  such  minor  offices  as 
city-alderman,  or  member  of  the  lower  house  of 
the  legislature.  Of  course,  the  possible,  or,  to 
speak  more  correctly,  the  probable,  expenses  of 
candidates  must  be  reckoned  at  a  much  higher 
sum.  If  the  office-seeker  would  have  his  name 
appear  upon  a  second  regular  ticket,  he  must 
pay  another  fifty  dollars  for  his  improved  pros- 
pects. If  he  hearkens  to  the  solicitations  of  his 
"  friends,"  who  propose  to  print  opposition 
tickets,  with  his  name  sljdy  inserted  to  cheat 
unwary  voters,  a  check  for  fifty  more  dollars  is 
the  customary  recognition  of  their  tender  con- 
cern for  his  interests.     Now,  let  us  leave  out  of 

212908 


38     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

the  account  all  payments  made  to  managers  who 
undertake  to  secure  these  fifty-dollar  nomina- 
tions. Let  us  even  suppose  that  a  candidate's 
expenses  are  confined  to  the  necessary  nomina- 
tion-fee of  a  sino'le  caucus.  Have  we  not  found 
one  of  the  reasons  why  the  people  are  so  often 
cheated  of  their  right  to  be  represented  by  able 
and  disinterested  men  ?  Here  is  the  question 
wliich,  in  theory,  the  community  puts  to  its 
most  valued  members :  ^Yill  you  oblige  us  by 
leaving  your  business  to  attend  to  ours,  if  a 
majority  selects  you  as  the  man  it  especially 
trusts?  Here  is  the  question  of  the  managers' 
caucus :  Do  you  want  an  office  enough  to  pay 
doion  fifty  dollars  on  a  gambling  adventure  for  a 
chance  of  obtaining  it  ?  I  am  sure  that  one  hun- 
dred good  men  might  be  found  who  would 
answer  the  first  question  in  the  afiirmative, 
where  not  ten  good  men  would  so  answer  the 
second. 

Journalist.  And  you  can  add  that  the  ten 
good  men  who  might  be  possible  candidates 
would  be  hampered  by  the  fact  that  they  had 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     39 

been  compelled  to  appear  as  office-seeA;ers,  and 
to  make  payments  which  acknowledged  their 
obligations  to  managers  and  busybodies. 

Senator.  And  then  comes  the  unanswerable 
question  :  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it? 

Journalist.  When  Mr.  Mill  was  proposed  as 
a  candidate  for  Parliament,  he  expressed  the 
wish  that  his  supporters  should  make  an  individ- 
ual appeal,  by  circular,  to  every  elector,  laying 
other  names  before  him  as  well  as  his  own,  and 
requesting  him  to  select  from  among  them,  or 
from  others,  the  person  or  persons  whom  he 
wished  to  be  brought  forward  as  candidates. 

Senator.  For  party-managers  to  issue  a  paper 
of  this  sort  would  be  impracticable. 

Journalist.  I  agree  with  3'ou.  But  for  the 
State  to  see  that  such  documents  were  issued 
would  not  only  be  practicable,  but  in  the  direct 
line  of  those  educational  functions  which  it  has 
assumed  in  America.  Our  costly  machinery  of 
public  instruction,  run  in  order  that  men  may 
vote  wisely,  stops  too  soon.  If  you  and  I  are 
burdened  with  heavy  taxes  in  order  that  the 


40     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

suffrage  of  our  neighbors  may  not  be  ignorant 
suffrage,  then  we  have  a  right  to  ask  that  the 
State  will  give  them  and  us  what  we  pay  for, 
—  the  means  of  voting  effectively  and  intel- 
ligently. If  our  elections  were  less  frequent, 
we  might  with  more  reason  call  upon  every 
elector  to  take  an  active  part  in  them.  If 
municipal  and  state  officers  were  chosen  for 
terms  of  three  or  four  years,  it  Avould  surely 
be  easier  to  impress  the  citizen  with  a  sense 
of  his  responsibility.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that 
upon  this  matter  there  is  a  practical  unanimity 
among  American  writers  who  have  considered 
the  subject  of  representation ;  and  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  of  them  have  disputed  the 
position  of  Mr.  Mill,  that  every  thing  apper- 
taining to  the  exercise  of  the  franchise  should 
be  provided  for  by  law  and  at  the  public  cost. 
So  far  we  are  moving  in  thoughtful  company. 
Let  nominations,  as  well  as  elections,  be  recog- 
nized by  our  laws,  and  made  under  the  supervi- 
sion of  public  officers.  Require  that  all  ballots 
for   nomination   be   signed   by   the   voter,  and 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     41 

kept  for  reference.  Yes,  I  have  considered 
the  objections  that  have  been  alleged  against 
holding  men  responsible  for  votes.  That  the 
signed  ballot  might,  in  exceptional  cases,  dis- 
turb the  perfect  independence  of  the  elector, 
must  be  admitted,  though  public  opinion  would 
go  far  towards  preventing  such  abuse.  But  I 
am  convinced  that  the  poor  and  dependent  man 
will  always  gain  much  more  than  he  can  lose  by 
discouraoinq;  the  secret  combinations  of  cow- 
ards  and  knaves,  who  take  instinctively  to  the 
dark.  Observe,  however,  that  no  principle 
recognized  by  our  present  system  is  ques- 
tioned. The  caucus  does  not  undertake  to 
conceal  the  preferences  of  individual  voters. 
There  are  four  methods  used  for  determining 
the  sense  of  these  meetings.  1st.  Ballots,  con- 
spicuously printed,  are  handed  to  voters,  which 
they  deposit  in  a  box  in  sight  of  all  men. 
2d.  Voters  are  required  to  mark  names  upon 
a  list  which  is  under  the  vigilant  inspection  of 
a  committee.  3d.  Voters,  by  rising,  or  rais- 
ing  the   hand,    confirm   or    reject   nonunations 


42     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

offered  to  the  meeting.  4th.  Voters  propose 
the  substitution  of  names  upon  a  list  presented 
for  their  acceptance.  Neither  of  these  methods 
secures  secrecy  of  voting,  while  most  of  them 
give  marked  publicity  to  the  electors'  choice. 
Signed  ballots  for  nominations  would  there- 
fore violate  no  usage  of  our  present  system. 

Mercliant.     But   be    more    explicit.     Here  is 

this   average   town   of  X ,  whose   majority 

fails  to  be  represented  in  government.  Sup- 
pose you  have  your  elections  once  in  three 
years  :  what  next  ? 

Journalist.  On  the  third  year,  about  six 
weeks  before  the  election,  will  appear  the 
"  Local  Nominator,"  a  journal  published  under 
the  supervision  of  a  committee  chosen  by  the 
town,  and  distributed  at  every  house,  like  the 
annual  report.  In  this  public  journal,  com- 
munications, indorsed  with  the  names  of  voters, 
will  propose  candidates  for  any  of  the  political 
parties,  or  candidates  independent  of  any 
party.  The  paper  will  be  issued  weekly,  say 
for  four  weeks.     Here  any  elector  will  have  a 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     43 

right  to  be  heard  for  or  against  any  candidate, 
and  here  an  expression  of  his  conviction  will 
have  precisely  the  weight  to  which  his  reputa- 
tion for  judgment  and  integrity  among  his 
neighbors  may  entitle  it.  Such  a  journal  would 
do  just  what  the  caucus  does  in  theory,  but 
never  in  practice.  If  I  am  an  orator,  and 
expert  in  dodging  parliamentary  gags,  I  may 
be  heard  for  a  few  minutes  by  a  squad  of  ex- 
cited men  who  have  come  to  a  primary  meet- 
ing with  the  purpose  of  controlling  it.  By 
means  of  the  journal,  I  can  show  my  con- 
victions, with  arguments  to  sustain  them,  to 
each  elector  in  his  coolest  moments. 

Senator.  Does  your  scheme  acknowledge 
the  existence  of  parties  ? 

Journalist.  Undoubtedly  :  they  are  necessi- 
ties of  popular  governments.  Their  platforms 
and  proposed  measures  will  reach  the  people 
through  the  general  press,  as  at  present.  INIy 
"  Local  Nominator  "  will  have  nothing  to  do  wilii 
these  questions.  The  State  has  nothing  to  say 
concerning  any  party  programme.     It  interferes 


44     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

only  to  secure  majorities  the  right  and  power 
to  select  the  men  who  are  to  carry  out  the 
principles  which  are  most  acceptable  at  any 
given  time.  It  has  spent  immense  sums  upon 
education  to  secure  intelligent  voting.  It  inter- 
feres to  see  that  its  benign  intention  is  not 
defeated.  Two  weeks  before  election,  polls 
for  nominations  will  be  opened  in  convenient 
parts  of  the  town.  They  will  be  kept  open 
for  several  days,  in  order  that  every  elector 
may  vote  with  a  minimum  of  inconvenience. 
Every  signed  ballot  designates  the  party  candi- 
date in  w^hose  favor  it  is  to  be  counted  ;  or 
the  independent  candidate,  if  one  is  preferred. 
The  central  committee  will  examine  the  bal- 
lots, and  proclaim  the  names  of  the  majority 
candidates  for  the  parties,  as  well  as  those  put 
forward  as  independent  of  party  obligation. 
The  matter  is  then  to  be  left  to  general  public 
discussion  until  the  election. 

Senator.  Would  you  do  away  with  all  party 
conventions  ? 

Journalist.      Not   necessarily.      They   would 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.    45 

be  useful  in  discussing  platforms,  and  promul- 
ffatinsf  the  views  of  leadinsr  men.  But  I  would 
have  all  nominations  made  through  the  agency 
just  mentioned.  Committees  representing  towns 
and  wards  of  cities  would,  of  course,  send 
nominations  received  for  State  officers  to  a 
central  council,  through  which  the  result  would 
be  made  known. 

Senator.  Of  course,  you  have  considered 
the  expense  of  this  arrangement  ? 

Journalist.  I  believe  that  the  improved 
candidates  we  should  get  would  save  us  ten 
times  the  outlay  necessary  to  secure  them. 
But  consider  the  immense  expense  of  our 
caucus  s^^stem,  —  an  expense  which  is  finally 
borne,  in  one  form  or  another,  by  the  people. 
You  know  what  it  costs  to  be  nominated  for 
Congress.  For  an  expense  which  is  too  often 
incurred  in  order  to  demoralize  the  people,  I 
Avould  substitute  an  expense  that  must  alwaj-s 
enlighten  and  educate  them.  At  first,  doubt- 
less, a  good  many  electors  would  Avant  to 
make  their  preferences  known  in  the  columns 


46     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

of  the  "Nominator;"  and  considerable  tj^pe- 
setting  might-  be  required  ;  but,  as  soon  as  the 
novelty  wore  off,  the  most  trusted  representa- 
tives of  different  classes  of  the  community  — 
working-men,  professional  men,  capitalists,  and 
reformers  —  would  be  permitted  to  speak  briefly 
for  their  friends. 

Senator.  Are  j'^ou  simple  enough  to  sup- 
pose that  the  managers  could  not  devise  means 
of  capturing  your  State  nominating  invention 
as  soon  as  it  got  well  to  work  ? 

Journalist.  I  believe  that  the  utterly  unscru- 
pulous trading  politicians  are,  after  all,  few 
in  number.  A  large  class  of  men  who  consort 
with  them,  and  are  used  by  them,  are  very 
decent  folk,  of  average  character,  and  perhaps 
more  than  average  public  spirit.  They  feel 
that  they  have  a  right  to  some  political  influ- 
ence, and  to  a  chance  at  the  offices.  They 
adopt  underhand  Avays  of  attaining  their  ends, 
because  none  others  are  possible.  Give  them 
their  just  measure  of  influence  by  legitimate 
means,  and  they  will  discountenance   a   resort 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.    47 

to  any  other.  I  believe  that  public  opinion 
will  insist  npon  fair  play  whenever  it  is  clear 
that  an  opportunity  for  it  has  been  provided. 

Minister.  If  I  understand  your  position, 
it  is  this :  Instead  of  speculating  about  new 
theories  of  representation,  which  the  mass  of  our 
people  are  not  likely  to  understand,  and  which 
interested  politicians  can  easily  misrepresent, 
we  should  cling  stoutly  to  the  old  theory,  de- 
manding only  that  it  be  reduced  to  j)ractice. 

Journalist.  You  are  quite  right.  I  suggest 
no  startling  innovation,  like  Senator  Doolittle's 
recent  proposal  to  give  heads  of  families  two 
votes.  Why  should  we  abandon  the  familiar 
democratic  principles  which  have  a  century  at 
their  back?  Our  work  is,  not  to  destroy,  but 
to  fulfil.  We  are  only  called  npon  to  see 
that  our  methods  of  representation  are  improved 
—  as  the  methods  of  conducting  all  sorts  of 
private  business  have  been  improved  —  to 
meet  the  changed  conditions  of  modern  life. 
Protect  majorities  in  their  right  to  nominate, 
as  well  as  to  elect,  and  we  hear  less  of  the 


48     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

merits  of  double  voting,  and  of  the  other 
radical  changes  in  our  system  which  enthusi- 
asts have  proposed.  In  theor}-,  the  caucus 
is  unassailable.  What  can  be  more  desirable 
than  a  consultation  of  all  citizens  holding  simi- 
lar political  views  for  the  purpose  of  nominating 
candidates  after  full  and  free  discussion  ?  In 
practice,  we  know  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the 
higher  capacity  and  morality  of  our  communi- 
ties are  deprived  of  their  just  weight.  Candi- 
dates represent,  not  the  will  of  the  majority, 
but  the  tyrann}^  of  an  active  and  unscrupulous 
minority.  To  return  to  my  former  illustra- 
tion, we  are  getting  about  as  satisfactory  re- 
sults from  the  caucus  as  we  should  get  from 
a  jury-trial,  if  the  protection  of  the  judge  were 
withdrawn,  and  the  jurymen  were  allowed  to 
be  absent  from  court  whenever  their  con- 
venience  might  prompt.  Take  my  remedy  in 
a  single  proposition.  Let  the  State,  which 
cannot  bring  the  citizen  to  the  existing  caucus, 
bring  an  honest  caucus  to  every  citizen. 

Merchant.     You  assume  that  all  our  States 


THE  PROTECTION'  OF  MAJORITIES.     49 

will  one  day  be  blessed  with  our  wise  Massachu- 
setts law,  which  excludes  illiterate  persons 
from  the  suffrage. 

Journalist.  Either  such  a  law,  or  compulsoiy 
education,  we  must  all  have,  sooner  or  later. 
For  a  communitj^,  which  deems  it  a  duty  to 
set  up  free  school-houses  at  every  corner,  to 
grant  the  suffrage  to  those  mIio  refuse  to  get 
learning  enough  to  read  the  newspaper,  and 
sign  their  names,  is  an  outrage  upon  common 
sense.  It  is  not  democracy,  but  a  burlesque 
upon  democracy. 

'Minuter.  I  have  often  thought  of  the  intelli- 
gent  mechanics, — some    of    our    best   citizens 

here  in  X ,  —  who  live  two  miles  from   the 

town-hall,  and  cannot  afford  to  keep  carriages. 
It  is  preposterous  to  expect  these  men,  tired 
with  their  day's  work,  to  trudge  to  a  caucus 
on  the  ghost  of  a  chance  of  opposing  the  com- 
binations of  skilful  and  fluent  managers.  The 
fact,  too,  that  caucuses  for  the  nomination  of 
most  important  officers  are  adroitly  held  the 
evening   before  the  election,  cuts  off  all  hope 


50     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

oi  opposing  their  decrees.  Voters  who  can 
be  bribed  or  bought  are  a  very  small  minority. 
But  then  they  can  always  be  had,  if  wanted. 
Somebody  stands  ready  to  pay  their  carriage 
hire  if  they  live  beyond  walking  distance. 
There  is  food  for  reflection  here. 

Journalist.  Let  me  offer  more  food  for  reflec- 
tion. Consider  our  clergy.  Here  are  you  min- 
isters, who  undoubtedly  represent  the  higher 
intelligence  and  morality  of  this  town.  In  most 
schemes  for  its  improvement,  for  raising  its 
social  tone,  you  come  forward  and  do  your  full 
part.  None  know  better  how  supremely  im- 
portant it  is  for  the  moral  welfare  of  our  people 
that  faithful  and  hioh-minded  men  should 
represent  them  in  government.  And  yet  you 
exercise  no  more  influence  upon  the  political 
decisions  of  our  community  than  the  paupers 
and  lunatics  in  the  almshouse.  I  know  your 
excuse.  If  jou  consort  with  the  men  who  con- 
trol nominations,  if  you  adopt  the  underhand 
methods  by  which  they  are  secured,  you  must 
lose  the  influence  of  characters  above  suspicion 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     51 

upon  which  your  usefulness  depends.  I  fear, 
that,  at  present,  the  excuse  is  valid  ;  but  I  deny- 
that  democracy  is  responsible  for  abuses  that 
minorities  are  permitted,  to  perpetrate  in  its 
name.  The  State  has  only  to  see  that  the 
people  really  have  the  rights  it  nominally  ac- 
cords them,  and  we  shall  make  it  far  more  dis- 
creditable for  a  minister  to  be  out  of  politics 
than  it  is  now  to  be  in  them. 

Senator.  But  would  it  not  take  too  much 
time  for  a  busy  man  to  throw  the  weight  of  his 
influence  through  the  public  journal  yon  advo- 
cate ? 

Journalist.  Let  us  see.  The  Reverend  Mr. 
Greatheart  has  finished,  his  sermon  ;  and,  before 
the  ink  is  dry,  he  writes  for  the  "  Nominator  "  a 
communication  like  this  :  — 

I  shall  vote  for  Hon.  Daniel  Darenotlie  as  nominee 
for  representative  to  Congress  for  the  Free-Trade 
party.  Among  the  candidates  proposed  for  nomina- 
tion by  tlie  Protectionists  in  the  last  number  of  this 
journal,  I  find  the  name  of  Colonel  Trusty.  If  their 
policy  must  prevail,  this  district  could  have  no  better 
representative.  Charles  Greatheart. 


52     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

Mr.  Probity  is  a  well-known  and  respected 
mechanic,  who,  for  the  excellent  reasons  that  our 
friend  has  given,  is  never  to  be  seen  at  caucuses. 
But  a  man  who  will  not  trudge  two  miles  on  the 
ghost  of  a  chance  of  opposing  the  combinations 
of  skilful  and  fluent  managers  will  put  the 
weight  of  his  honest  conviction  into  such  sen- 
tences as  these :  — 

As  a  laboring-man  and  a  Democrat,  I  propose  Henry 
Homespun  as  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  for 
representative  to  the  General  Court,  and  shall  give 
him  my  vote.  Let  any  laboring-men,  who  are  bound 
to  vote  the  Republican  ticket,  see  that  the  name  of 
Louis  Laudable  is  on  it.  He  is  an  honest  man,  just 
to  all  interests,  and  afraid  of  nobody :  witness  his 
report  on  factories  two  years  ago.  Don't  throw  away 
votes  on  a  Labor-party  nomination,  as  some  agitators 
are  asking  you  to  do.  The  time  for  this  has  not  come. 
Stick  to  the  old  parties,  and  see  that  they  nominate 
their  best  men.  Peter  Probity. 

I  claim  that  Greatheart  and  Probity  have  now 
obtained  that  legitimate  ascendency  of  character 
in  a  political  decision  which  they  have  always 
exercised    in    social   decisions.     Who    does  not 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     53 

recognize  the  fact,  that  the  good  opinion  of  one 
man  is  a  force,  while  that  of  his  neighbor  has 
not  a  feather's  weight?  By  a  few  strokes  of 
the  pen,  Greatheart  addresses  two  unpacked 
caucuses  of  rival  parties,  and  contributes  the 
wciglit  of  his  judgment  to  their  deliberations. 
Probity  has  been  heard  in  three  full  party  cau- 
cuses, as  well  as  by  those  citizens  who  recognize 
no  party  obligation.  He  has  suffered  no  disad- 
vantage from  the  fact,  that  a  faithful  working- 
man  cannot  command  the  arts  by  which  a  prac- 
tised and  unscrupulous  rhetorician  may,  for  the 
time,  sway  a  popular  assembly.  Two  hundred 
years  ago,  Thomas  Hobbes  flung  his  bitterest 
sarcasm  at  democracy  by  declaring  that  it  was 
only  another  name  for  an  aristocracy  of  orators. 
With  our  free  education  and  free  libraries,  this 
reproach  should  surely  be  removed.  It  is  time 
to  enter  upon  a  course,  that,  in  fulness  of  time, 
may  make  democracy  synonymous  with  an  aris- 
tocracy of  character  and  capacity. 

Do  not  take  the  illustrations  just  given  for 
more  than  they  are  worth.     Few  citizens  might 


54     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

care  to  designate  candidates  for  parties  with 
whose  policy  they  did  not  sympathize.  In  ex- 
ceptional instances,  certainly,  an  opportunity  to 
do  this  would  be  desirable.  I  may  be  con- 
scientiously opjDosed  to  the  doctrine  of  free- 
trade,  and  yet  highly  value  Greatheart's  judg- 
ment touching  the  protectionist  whose  general 
character  would  do  most  honor  to  the  district. 
The  '"•  Nominator  "  represents  a  perfectly  fair  de- 
liberative body,  where  the  humblest  person  has 
the  power  to  influence  others,  as  well  as  the 
right  to  be  influenced  by  those  whose  intelli- 
gence he  respects.  Office-seekers  are,  of  course, 
heartily  welcome ;  but  they  must  leave  their 
game  of  packing  conventions,  and,  appearing 
before  the  people  on  their  merits,  openly  solicit 
their  votes.  Notwithstanding  the  dictum  of  a 
great  philosopher,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
the  proper  person  to  be  intrusted  with  political 
power  is  he  who  is  least  willing  to  accept  it. 
Many  persons  are  honorably  ambitious  of  filling 
public  offices  who  fill  them  exceedingly  well. 
Senator.     Your  plan  would  scarcely  improve 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     55 

matters  in  cities.  In  small  communities,  where 
a  man  is  well  known  among  his  neighbors,  his 
influence  may  be  in  proportion  to  his  worth  ; 
but  in  a  city  we  may  not  have  bowing  acquaint- 
ance with  the  residents  of  the  next  block. 

Journalist.  I  might  answer,  that  it  would  be 
of  great  advantage  to  cities  if  towns  could  be 
represented  in  legislatures  b}^  their  most  trust- 
worthy men.  The  higher  standard  of  public  ser- 
vice would  inevitably  diffuse  itself.  But  I  can- 
not agree  that  a  guarantee  of  absolutely  fair  play 
in  nominating  to  office  would  work  no  improve- 
ment. Remember  that  in  all  cities  there  are 
conspicuous  men,  who,  though  unknown  to  the 
majority  of  their  neighbors  as  personal  acquaint- 
ances, are  well  known  by  their  honorable  repu- 
tations. Take,  as  examples,  a  dozen  leading 
clergymen  of  different  denominations,  the  lead- 
ing scientists,  the  special  students  of  politics  in 
the  nobler  sense  of  the  word,  the  organizers  of 
successful  charities,  citizens  who  have  acquired 
wealth  by  exceptional  business  sagacity.  Here 
are  the  natural  leaders  of  opinion,  exerting  wide 


&Q     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

influence  in  directions  religious,  scientific,  and 
social,  who  seldom  appear  at  caucuses,  and  ex- 
ert no  influence  whatever  upon  their  nomina- 
tions. But  make  the  conditions  of  influence 
easy,  open,  and  honorable,  and  we  shall  feel  the 
weight  of  their  judgment  in  government,  as  we 
now  feel  it  in  interests  of  far  less  importance. 

Minister.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  government  to 
insure  honest  nominations,  should  it  not  do  some- 
thing to  secure  honest  elections  ?  Why  should 
the  jjolls  be  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  roughs, 
hired  in  the  interest  of  candidates  to  force 
tickets  with  false  headings,  and  otherwise  got 
up  to  cheat,  npon  unwary  voters  ?  They  might, 
with  as  much  propriety,  be  permitted  to  assail 
jurymen  as  they  enter  the  coiu't  to  render  their 
verdict. 

Journalist.  You  are  quite  right.  It  is  clearly 
the  duty  of  the  State,  acting  in  the  interest  of 
all  citizens,  to  see  that  voters  are  treated  in  such 
decent  fashion  as  shall  encourage  their  self- 
respect,  and  give  reality  to  tlieir  electorial  rights. 
The  regular  party  tickets,  and  such  independent 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     57 

tickets  as  have  a  certain  numerical  support, 
should  be  conspicuously  displayed  in  the  voting- 
room,  and  corresponding  ballots  obtained  on  ap- 
plication to  proper  officers.  These  should  be 
printed  at  the  public  expense,  in  a  uniform  man- 
ner, with  ample  spaces  between  the  names  to 
facilitate  scratching  when  desired.  Writing 
materials  should  likewise  be  provided  for  all  who 
may  wish  to  amend  existing  tickets,  or  to  pre- 
pare new  ones.  It  should  be  assumed,  that,  when 
the  citizen  enters  the  voting-room,  he  comes  to 
register  an  opinion  already  formed.  Idlers  and 
busy-bodies  should  not  be  permitted  to  interfere 
with  him,  or  obstruct  his  passage. 

Senator.  You  must  admit  that  a  genuine 
manifestation  of  the  wishes  of  the  majority 
might,  in  some  cases,  give  us  worse  public  ser- 
vants than  the  managers  provide  at  present. 

3Iinister.  Possibly  worse  in  rare  cases,  but 
in  no  case  so  dangerous.  To  assure  us  that  an 
inferior  man  is  really  the  deliberate  preference 
of  the  majority,  is  to  give  just  that  determinate- 
ness  to  a  problem  which  challenges  good  men  to 

3* 


58     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

attempt  its  solution.  Take  this  very  congres- 
sional district.  Shall  I  seriously  try  to  persuade 
a  majority  of  its  voters  that  a  man  of  spotless 
national  reputation,  like  Steadfast,  would  repre- 
sent us  far  more  creditably  than  Bubble  or 
Feigning  ?  Why,  everybody  admits  it ;  the 
managers  themselves  admit  it.  They  can  only 
say  that  Bubble  is  ''  inside  of  politics ; "  that 
they  are  bound  to  recognize  his  "  claims  "  just 
as  he  is  bound  to  recognize  theirs ;  and  that  it 
has  been  "  arranged  "  that  he  is  to  represent  us 
for  two  terms,  and  that  Feigning  is  to  have  the 
succession.  Once  assure  me  that  a  majority  of 
voters  in  this  district  honestly  believe  that  the 
qualities  of  Bubble  are  more  desirable  in  our 
representative  than  those  of  Steadfast,  and  I 
shall  have  something  to  tilt  against.  I  should 
hope,  by  my  preaching  and  living,  to  clear  the 
mists  from  my  neighbors'  eyes,  and  bring  them 
to  a  better  judgment.  Now,  I  can  do  nothing; 
for  I  can  find  no  ignorance  to  enlighten. 

Journalist.     If  it  is  the  real  wish  of  the  ma- 
jority to  be  represented  by  dishonest  and  incapa- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     59 

ble  men,  the  fact  is  worth  proving ;  but,  until 
it  is  proved,  by  giving  the  majority  adequate 
protection  from  the  tricks  and  sharp  practices  of 
minorities,  I  am  too  good  a  democrat  to  believe 
it.  Provisionally  at  least,  I  repudiate  the  doc- 
trine that  the  legislator  must  necessarily  repre- 
sent the  average  ignorance  of  political  science 
which  may  exist  among  his  constituents.  As 
well  say  that  the  trusted  physician  must  have 
as  crude  notions  of  physiology  as  his  patients,  or 
that  the  honored  minister  must  be  just  as  selfish 
and  worldly  as  the  average  pewholder. 

While  it  is  a  matter  of  serious  concern  that  so 
many  men  of  high  intelligence  and  sturdy  char- 
acter are  virtually  disfranchised  by  the  caucus 
system,  it  is  no  less  unfortunate  that  the  great 
body  of  laboring-men  are  nearly  as  powerless  in 
the  hands  of  the  managers.  Our  social  organi- 
zation, which  has  experienced  so  great  changes 
in  the  past,  is  destined  to  profound  modifica- 
tions in  the  future.  Whether  these  shall  come 
about  violently  or  graduall}',  whether  we  shall 
rise  to  a  nobler  civilization,  or  pass  into  a  period 


60     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

of  chaos,  depends  upon  the  adequate  representa- 
tion of  the  working-classes.  Plato  has  signifi- 
cantly told  us  that  each  Grecian  state  enclosed 
two  states,  —  one.  composed  of  the  rich,  the  other 
of  the  poor.  Our  American  States  are  coming 
to  be  divided  in  the  same  way  ;  and,  under  the 
management  of  caucus  politicians,  the  dividing- 
line  will  be  constantly  deepening.  Manual 
labor  has  no  adequate  representation  in  our 
government.  The  vulgar  money  powers  and 
knavish  combinations  which  hold  sway  in  the 
caucus  have  too  often  offered  the  working-man 
just  that  choice  which  the  old  epigram  distin- 
guishes between  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee. 
He  is  graciously  permitted  to  suit  his  fancy  about 
the  termination,  seeing  that  Tweed  element 
can  in  no  wise  be  avoided.  Do  not  understand 
me  to  imply  that  the  working-man  must  be 
represented  by  his  fellow-laborer.  No  one  who 
depends  upon  daily  manual  work  for  his  bread 
can  afford  to  take  a  political  office.  Not  until 
the  working-man  has  acquired  some  capital,  and 
with  it  the  leisure  for  reflection  and  investiga- 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     61 

tion,  can  he  be  put  forward  to  represent  his 
class  ;  and  then,  unlucky  paradox  !  his  interests 
no  longer  identify  him  with  that  class.  Yet 
it  is  well  that  this  is  so.  In  the  last  analj'sis,  we 
shall  always  find  that  the  real  and  permanent 
interest  of  any  class  is  identical  with  the  real 
and  permanent  interest  of  all  classes.  If  labor 
is  to  be  adequately  represented,  it  must  be  by 
culture :  the  word,  despite  its  savor  of  dilettan- 
teism,  is  the  best  that  occurs  to  me.  Men  of 
independent  thought,  thorough  instruction,  and 
high  morality,  are  the  natural  allies  of  the 
humble  and  the  wronged  ;  but  such  men  are  as 
worthless  to  the  managers  as  they  are  precious 
to  the  people. 

Senator.  Let  me  remind  you  how  hopeless 
is  any  movement  in  the  direction  you  advocate. 
Why,  you  are  met  at  once  by  the  paradox,  that 
a  reform  which  is  only  possible  through  the 
action  of  legislatures  must  be  carried  against 
legislatures.  The  existing  system  has  created 
the  tribunal  by  which  it  must  be  tried.  That  a 
change    of    method    in    nominating    would    be 


62     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

thoroughly  democratic,  givmg  reality  to  the 
alleged  government  by  the  people,  is  just  the 
objection  to  its  success.  Why,  look  at  the  fate 
of  the  j)roposition  to  abolish  that  absurd  restric- 
tion which  limits  the  choice  of  electors  to  a 
resident  of  their  own  district.  Is  there  any  per- 
son outside  of  politics,  and  outside  a  mad-house, 
who  desires  a  law  to  forbid  him  from  employing 
a  worthy  man,  whether  as  blacksmith,  doctor, 
or  legislator,  because  he  lives  in  an  adjoining 
town,  or  perhaps  across  the  street  in  the  next 
ward  ?  And  yet,  when  it  was  proposed  to  sub- 
mit the  wisdom  of  this  restriction  to  a  popular 
ballot,  the  so-called  popular  branch  of  our  Mas- 
sachusetts legislature  would  listen  to  no  discus- 
sion, but  "  voted  it  down  with  a  howl,"  as  the 
saying  goes.  Remember  that  men  who  owe 
their  places  to  a  given  abuse  will  never  bestir 
themselves  to  get  rid  of  it.  If  a  jilausible  cry  is 
wanted  against  3'our  State  guarantee  for  fair 
nominations,  an  appeal  can  always  be  made  to 
that  horror  of  enlarging  the  sphere  of  govern- 
ment which  is  the  nightmare  of  so  many  excel- 
lent persons. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     63 

Journalist.  The  non-intervention-of-govern- 
ment  cry  would  be  too  shallow  to  have  much 
effect.  To  see  that  the  people  get  information 
that  will  enable  them  to  judge  independently, — 
in  other  words,  to  protect  the  majority,  so  that  it 
may  exercise  free  choice  among  a  variety  of  prof- 
fered alternatives,  —  is  so  clearly  within  the 
sphere  of  a  popular  government,  that,  to  deny  it, 
is  to  deny  the  right  of  such  a  government  to  ex- 
ist at  all.  Even  Mr.  Mill,  who  advocated  State 
inaction  in  moral  matters  to  a  degree  which 
seems  to  me  erroneous,  never  doubted  that  this 
sort  of  supervision  was  one  of  its  first  duties. 
Neither  can  I  see  that  the  heavy  logical  fetters, 
with  which  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  sees  fit  to  load 
the  representative  of  organized  society,  can  pre- 
vent a  government,  founded  on  the  will  of  the 
people,  from  taking  action  necessary  to  reflect 
that  will  with  a  maximum  of  accuracy.  Or 
suppose  we  all  accept  the  proposition  attributed 
to  Jefferson,  that  the  country  is  best  governed 
which  is  governed  least,  surely  the  people  should 
be  protected  in  their  right  to  choose  these  least- 


64     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

governing  governors  if  they  really  want  them. 
I  submit  that  these  considerations  should  satisfy 
the  "  thinkers,"  who  must  have  logical  complete- 
ness in  many  cases  where  their  humbler  brothers 
rely  upon  a  vigorous  common  sense.  Most 
active  men  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
functions  of  government  are  precisely  what 
public  opinion  decrees  that  they  should  be  at 
any  given  time,  and  that  they  are  likely  tx)  in- 
crease as  civilization  advances. 

What  you  say  about  legislatures  has,  of  course, 
pertinence.  Still,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
some  good  men  get  into  them  under  our  present 
system.  The  exigencies  of  parties  compel  the 
managers  to  consent  to  the  nomination  of  a  few 
candidates  who  really  represent  the  people,  and 
are  comj^etent  to  do  good  work  that  may  be 
credited  to  the  party  with  which  their  fortunes 
are  linked.  Few  as  these  men  are,  and  false  as 
is  the  position  in  which  they  are  placed,  they 
constitute  a  latent  power  ready  to  respond  to 
a  movement  that  may  emancipate  them  from  a 
thraldom    they   have   learned   to  detest.      The 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES.     65 

restriction  of  residence  to  which  you  allude  is  no 
doubt  absurd  enough;  but,  until  majorities  are 
secured  tlie  privilege  of  nominating  within  their 
own  districts,  public  sentiment  will  scarcely  call 
for  this  important  enlargement  of  their  rights. 
Other  reforms,  it  seems  to  me,  must  wait  for 
this. 

The  demand  for  woman  suffrage,  for  example, 
will  receive  a  consideration  which  it  has  not  yet 
obtained,  whenever  it  is  evident  that  a  majority 
of  men  is  fairly  represented  in  legislation.  "  I 
always  feel,  when  I  put  my  hand  in  the  ballot- 
box,"  said  a  president  of  Harvard  College,  "that 
I  am  being  used  by  somebody,  I  know  not  whom, 
for  some  purpose,  I  know  not  what."  Men  who 
have  reached  such  conclusions  cannot  feel  a 
burning  enthusiasm  that  their  wives  and  daugh- 
ters should  be  used  also.  Whenever  the  in- 
stincts of  men  are  adequately  represented  in  the 
choice  of  legislators,  we  shall  not  exclude  the 
instincts  of  women,  if  it  shall  appear  that  a 
majority  of  them  desire  to  vote.  But  to  enlarge 
the  suffrage  with  our  present  system  of  caucus 


6Q     THE  PROTECTION  OF  MAJORITIES. 

nominations  would  be  to  play  into  the  hands  of 
our  most  unscrupulous  political  adventurers,  — 
a  fact  which  certain  prominent  members  of  that 
fraternity  have  been  sagacious  enough  to  rec- 
ognize. 

A  truer  representation  of  majorities  is,  then, 
the  reform  of  reforms.  The  State  should  see 
that  her  voters  are  permitted  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  natural  leadership  of  the  enlightened  and 
humane,  and  are  not  bought. and  sold  and  bar- 
gained for  by  the  cunning  and  adroit.  Let  us 
celebrate  our  National  Centennial  by  initiating 
a  public  sentiment  that  shall  finally  bury  King 
Caucus  by  the  side  of  His  Majesty  George  the 
Third,  with  a  "  8ic  semper  tyrannis  "  by  way 
of  epitaph. 


COERCION  IN  THE  LATER  STAGES  OF 
EDUCATION. 

1873. 

'T^HERE  is  a  familiar  Latin  line  whicli  makes 
summary  disposition  of  those  unscrupulous 
persons  who  have  presumed  to  say  our  good 
things  before  us.  But  a  comprehensive  form  of 
anathema,  to  be  directed  against  those  who  say  our 
good  things  after  us,  is  still  a  desideratum.  Un- 
til this  great  deficiency  has  been  supplied,  men 
should  possess  their  souls  in  patience.  And  so, 
when  we  read  in  our  newspaper  that  the  learned 
court  has  pronounced  a  decision  of  immense 
wisdom,  and  of  unspeakable  importance  to  the 
nation,  it  is  well  to  join  with  the  general  accla- 
mation over  the  bench  of  Daniels  that  Heaven 
has  sent  us.  But  it  is  not  well  to  forget  the 
patient  laborers  at  anonymous  journalism  who 
anticipated  that  enlightened  judgment  by  some 
score  of  years,  and  fortified  it  with  arguments 


68  COERCION  IN  THE 

which  the  gentlemen  in  authority  have  at  length 
done  them  the  honor  to  adopt.  . 

More  j-ears  ago  than  it  is  quite  pleasant  to 
sjDecify,  a  few  persons  of  my  acquaintance  made 
an  exhaustive  examination  of  a  certain  American 
college.  As  we  had  determined  to  do  our  work 
thoroughly,  you  will  understand  that  we  avoided 
the  blunder  of  getting  letters  of  introduction  to 
official  personages,  and  inspecting  only  what 
they  chose  to  show  us.  We  happened  to  hit 
upon  the  ver}^  plan  which  has  since  been  adopted 
by  Mr.  Greenwood,  the  amateur  casual,  as  well 
as  by  the  "  Tribune "  reporter,  who  feigned 
madness  in  order  to  examine  the  workings  of  an 
as3lum  from  tlie  inside.  We  caused  ourselves 
to  be  put  into  the  institution  that  we  desired  to 
inspect.  You  will  see  that  we  must  have  been 
pretty  clever  fellows  to  have  staid  there  four 
years  without  getting  found  out ;  but  the  pros- 
pect of  being  able  to  form  intelligent  opinions 
.upon  all  disputed  points  connected  with  college 
education  furnished  a  stimulus  for  our  best 
effort.     Well,    much   other   business   has   since 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        69 

enrran-ed  the  members  of  that  committee  ;  and 
somehow  it  has  happened,  that  the  report  of  our 
investigations  has  never  been  published  in  full. 
But,  heartily  concurring  in  its  general  conclu- 
sions, we  have  all  held  certain  decided  views 
about  college-matters,  for  the  acceptance  of 
which — according  to  our  private  capacities  and 
opportunities  —  we  have  endeavored  to  prepare 
the  world.  And  at  length  the  hour  has  struck. 
In  his  last  Annual  Report,  the  President  of  Har- 
vard College  ventures  upon  an  observation  which 
has  long  been  a  commonplace  among  many  per- 
sons Avho  have  tried  to  understand  the  require- 
ments of  the  later  education  in  America. 

"With  due  official  caution.  President  Eliot  finds 
it  "  not  unreasonable  to  hope  "  that  the  venera- 
ble institution  of  which  he  has  proved  so  efficient 
a  head  "  will  soon  get  entirely  rid  of  a  certain 
school-boy  spirit,  which  is  not  found  in  the  pro- 
fessional schools,  and  which  seems  to  have  its 
roots  in  the  enforced  attendance  upon  recita- 
tions, lectures,  and  religious  exercises."  And 
after  speaking  of  the  practice  of  foreign  univer- 


70  COERCION  IN  THE 

sities,  and  of  the  average  age  of  admission  to 
Harvard,  a  notable  paragraph  is  closed  with  this 
sentence  :  "  Whenever  it  appears  that  a  college 
rule  or  method  of  general  application  is  perse- 
vered in  onlj  for  the  sake  of  the  least  promising 
and  worthy  students,  there  is  good  reason  to 
suspect  that  that  rule  or  method  has  been  out- 
grown." Sound  as  this  concluding  proposition 
undoubtedly  is,  it  seems  to  contain  an  implica- 
tion from  Avhich  many  would  dissent.  It  is  my 
own  conviction,  that,  while  the  reform  indicated 
would  undoubtedly  be  profitable  for  the  best 
scholars,  it  would  be  still  more  advantageous  for 
"the  least  promising  and  worthy  students"  who 
should  he  allowed  to  enter ^  or  permitted  to  remain 
in,  our  highest  institutions  for  education.  The 
statement  is  here  limited  by  the  conditions  itali- 
cized, out  of  respect  to  the  clear  and  earnest 
presentation  of  opposing  views  by  the  President 
of  Princeton  College,  whose  letter,  evoked  by 
President  Eliot's  remarks,  is  familiar  to  all  who 
follow  our  educational  literature.  We  have  no 
need,  then,  to  consider  that  conviction  of  certain 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        71 

eminent  minds,  which  found  expression  in  the 
assertion  of  Adam  Smith,  that  "  after  twelve  or 
thirteen  years,  provided  the  master  does  his 
duty,  force  or  restraint  can  scarce  ever  be  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  any  part  of  education."  We 
need  not  meddle  with  the  question,  how  far 
coercive  institutions,  such  as  Dr.  McCosh  ap- 
proves, may  be  suited  to  large  numbers  of 
American  youth.  It  is  enough  to  assert  that 
there  is  a  very  respectable  class,  both  in  aiumber 
and  intelligence,  to  whose  needs  they  are  not 
adapted.  Let  us  have  coercive  seminaries,  so 
far  as  may  be  required.  Let  them  be  called 
high  schools,  academies,  colleges,  or  what  you 
please :  it  is  foolish  to  wrangle  over  names. 
But,  in  addition  to  these,  let  us  have  at  least 
one  educational  centre,  whose  methods  are 
essentially  diiferent.  The  time  is  ripe  for  an 
American  university  that  shall  worthily  repre- 
sent the  hic^hest  intellectual  life  of  the  nation. 
To  secure  this,  some  temporary  inconveniences, 
and  some  risks  of  partial  failure,  may  be  well 
encountered.     Even  the  statistical  and  popular 


72  COERCION  IN  THE 

success  dear  to  catalogue-makers  may  be  wisely 
perilled  in  securing  a  higher  level  for  future 
effort.  Ultimate  recognition  commanded  by 
broadest  usefulness  will  surely  be  given,  if  the 
proverb  is  boldly  reversed,  and  no  corpus  vile 
taken  for  the  experiment. 

How  far  our  national  centre  of  the  highest 
knowledge  should  be  formed  after  a  foreign 
model  is  a  matter  for  discussion.  It  may  be  re- 
marked, that  Dr.  McCosh's  estimate  of  the  Ger- 
man university,  wliose  imitation  he  seems  to 
deprecate,  is  quite  cordial  enough.  "  Berlin," 
he  tells  us,  "  with  its  two  hundred  teachers,  can 
furnish  high  instruction  in  every  department  of 
human  learning.  It  is  the  very  place  for  an 
American  youth  to  go,  when,  having  taken  his 
degree  at  home,  he  wishes  to  perfect  himself  in 
some  special  department  of  human  learning."  If 
we  give  its  full  meaning  to  this  last  sentence,  — 
a  meaning  that  it  may  not  have  been  intended 
to  convey, —  we  touch  the  rooted  conviction 
upon  which  advocates  of  nobler  standards  in  our 
home  education  base   their  demands ;  for  it  is 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        73 

emphatically  denied  that  any  European  capital  is 
"  the  very  place  for  an  American  youth  to  go  " 
during  the  most  critical  period  of  his  develop- 
ment. There  is  always  peril  in  sending  young 
men  beyond  the  reach  of  the  moral  sentiment  of 
their  nationality.  Its  subtle  influence  is  wanted 
to  lend  strength  to  the  feeble  will,  and  to  sepa- 
rate right  from  wrong  by  sharp  outlines.  It  is 
humiliating  to  I'eflect  how  much  the  best  of  us  are 
indebted  for  our  good  conduct  to  the  wholesome 
public  opinion  in  the  presence  of  which  we  expect 
to  live.  Those  who  know  the  temptations  of  stu- 
dent life  in  the  Continental  cities  lonsf  for  the 
day  when  our  university  education  at  home  will 
leave  no  pretext  for  this  dangerous  expatriation. 
But  it  is  not  the  German  university  as  it  ex- 
ists in  Europe,  but  that  university  improved, 
and  adapted  to  our  wants  by  strict  periodical 
examinations,  whose  claims  have  found  advo- 
cates. And  here  is  thrust  forward  the  evil  of 
cramming,  that  examinations  are  alleged  to  in- 
duce. It  is  difficult  for  many  persons  of  mature 
life  to  look  at  this  objection  judicially,  from  the 

4 


74  COERCION  IN  THE 

fact  that  a  large  portion  of  tlieir  own  college 
examinations  were  passed  by  cramming ;  and  this, 
perhaps,  by  the  connivance  of  those  who  directed 
them.  The  causes  of  this  ancient  deception  are 
not  far  to  seek.  Marks  for  recitations  were  con- 
sidered adequate  tests  of  scholarship,  and  ex- 
aminations were  degraded  to  exhibitions.  The 
teacher  —  whether  owing  to  his  own  fault,  or  to 
that  of  the  system  in  which  he  was  obliged  to 
work  —  was  unwilling  that  the  true  results  of 
his  course  should  appear.  It  was,  perhaps, 
thought  desirable  that  a  given  institution  should 
be  kept  on  a  numerical  equality  with  some  rival ; 
or  it  seemed  best  that  certain  youths  of  idle 
habits,  who  could  command  powerful  social  in- 
fluences, should  not  be  disgraced.  But,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  motives,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  examinations  were 
often  arranged  with  the  special  design  of  giving 
crammers  a  chance.  And  I  do  not  exceed  the 
bounds  of  my  personal  knowledge  in  mentioning 
that  college  teachers  have  sometimes  given 
their  pupils  very  broad  hints  how  and  where  to 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        75 

cram  in  order  to  make  a  show.  But  whatever 
abuses  have  existed  in  the  past,  or  exist  to-day, 
few  who  have  considered  the  matter  can  doubt 
that  examinations  may  be  made  tests  of  [)ro- 
ficiency  as  nearly  absolute  as  humanity  can  de- 
vise. They  can  be  made  to  indicate  the  amount 
of  knowledge  that  the  mind  has  assimilated  far 
more  truly  than  any  average  of  marks  for  parrot- 
like recitations  from  a  text-book.  In  a  report 
upon  the  civil-service  examination,  published  in 
England  in  1854,  and  bearing  the  signatures  of 
such  men  as  Lord  Macaulay,  Professor  Jowett, 
and  Mr.  Shaw  Lefevre,  occurs  this  emphatic 
declaration :  "  Experience  justifies  us  in  pro- 
nouncing, that,  if  the  examiners  be  well  chosen, 
it  is  utterly  impossible  that  the  delusive  show  of 
knowledge,  which  is  the  effect  of  the  process 
popularly  called  cramming,  can  ever  be  success- 
ful against  real  learning  and  ability."  Even  Dr. 
McCosh  frankly  admits  that  examinations  can 
be  so  arranged  as  to  render  cramming  impossible, 
but  thinks  that  not  one  examiner  in  ten  is  capa- 
ble of  devising  them.     Although  many  experts 


76  COERCION  IN  THE 

totally  differ  with  liira  in  that  estimate,  the  mat- 
ter is  worth  no  controversy.  Suppose  that  only 
one  examiner  in  twenty  can  prevent  this  fraud, 
the  reply  is  obvious  :  "  Let  our  national  univer- 
sity employ  the  twentieth  man." 

Two  other  objections  of  Dr.  McCosh  deserve 
a  passing  remark.  "  Eveiybody  knows,"  he 
says,  "  that  many  young  men  enter  college  with- 
out any  appreciation  of  study ;  and  the  college 
should  seek  to  give  them  a  taste  for  learning  by 
requiring  them  to  come  into  daily  contact  with 
kind  and  judicious  instructors."  Owing  to  the 
defective  state  of  our  preparatory  schools,  and 
the  easy  conditions  for  admission  to  many  col- 
leges, the  lirst  clause  in  the  sentence  is,  un- 
happily, true  ;  but  it  scarcely  touches  President 
Eliot's  hopes  for  the  future.  Indeed,  it  may  be 
coniidently  affirmed,  that,  if  the  examination- 
papers  published  by  Harvard  College  represent 
the  real  requirements  for  admission,  it  is  impos- 
sible for  applicants  to  enter  without  a  decided 
"  appreciation  of  study."  That  "  the  college 
should  seek  to  give  them  a  taste  for  learning  "  is 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        77 

a  self-evident  proposition.  I  believe  that  this 
should  be  done  by  inducing  sympathetic  contact 
"  with  kind  and  judicious  instructors."  Whether 
this  is  best  accomplished  by  compelling  daily  con- 
tact with  them,  is  precisely  the  question  in  debate. 
And,  finally.  Dr.  McCosh  implies  that  temp- 
tations to  idleness  and  dissipation  are  counter- 
acted by  the  coercive  system  at  present  in  vogue 
in  our  highest  colleges.  If  this  were  true,  it 
should  at  once  settle  the  question.  There  is  a 
sadder  necrology  to  ever}^  college  than  that 
which  gets  published  upon  Commencement  Day. 
The  failure  of  what  we  call  our  best  education 
to  obtain  mastery  over  the  vicious  tendencies  of 
humanity  is  sorrowfully  evident.  We  will  cheer- 
fully resign,  as  a  poor  dilettante  delight,  all  hope 
of  developing  our  choice  intellects  by  finer 
methods,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  old  system 
will  insure  us  one  self-controlled  democrat  the 
more,  or  one  pilfering  congressman  the  less.  It 
would  indeed  be  a  fool's  bargain  to  abate  a  jot 
from  the  average  moral  character  an  institution 
develops,  to  furnish  knowledge  in  encyclopedic 


78  COERCION  IN  THE 

rations.  But  it  is  emphatically  denied  that  an 
enforced  attendance  vipon  a  few  daily  exercises, 
and  the  ranking  by  recitation-marks,  which  be- 
longs to  the  scheme,  have  any  tendency  to  pre- 
vent dissipation  in  young  men  who  would 
otherwise  seek  it.  The  wretched  pretence  of 
school-boy  espionage  —  which,  under  college 
conditions,  can  be  only  a  pretence  —  induces  a 
school-boy  sense  of  fun  in  outwitting  the  shallow 
device.  The  collection  of  hundreds  of  young 
men  in  a  university  town  must  necessarily  offer 
temptations  to  dissipation  that  no  compulsions 
practicable  to  professors  can  appreciably  reduce. 
But  it  is  confidently  maintained,  that,  in  the 
case  of  students  who  are  jDroperl}*  qualified  for 
collegiate  training,  these  temptations  may  be  re- 
duced to  a  minimum  bj^  lifting  the  relation  of 
teacher  and  pupil  to  a  higher  level.  The  attrac- 
tions to  sin  must  be  met  by  those  attractions  to 
intellectual  and  moral  effort  which  the  genuine 
professor,  when  left  to  himself,  can  bountifully 
supply.  We  are  bound  to  distrust  our  Avays  of 
conducting    the  later  education  until  a  hearty 


um 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        79 

co-operation  in  the  purposes  of  college-residence, 
instead  of  being  the  peculiarity  of  a  minority, 
has  become  the  pervading  spirit  of  all. 

But  the  root  of  the  disorder,  which,  more  or 
less  apparently,  results  from  the  coercive  system, 
is  seldom  honestly  declared.  It  lies  in  the  in- 
competence of  the  best  professors  for  administra- 
tive duties.  It  is  painful  to  think  how  many 
men  of  noble  gifts  have  been  compelled  to  waste 
power  in  the  blundering  performance  of  work 
that  should  never  have  been  required  of  them. 
The  eyeless  Samson  making  sport  for  the  Philis- 
tines is  the  prototype  of  men  of  rarer  strength, 
obliged  to  fumble  blindly  before  discordant 
classes  who  were  brimming  over  with  that  merry 
sense  of  incongruity  with  which  ^-outh  is  so 
generously  endowed.  We  are  slowly  learning 
that  capital  can  never  be  forced  into  a  given  em- 
ployment without  being  forced  out  of  some  other 
employment,  and  that  it  seeks  spontaneously  its 
most  profitable  field.  That  costhest  capital,  the 
genius  and  knowledge  of  a  great  teacher,  is  sub- 
ject to  similar  laws.     You  cannot  put  it  to  un- 


80  COERCION  IN  THE 

suitable  work  without  deadening  power  in  its 
proper  range,  and  depriving  its  possessor  of  that 
lever  of  personality  by  which  he  might  move  a 
generation.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  a  teacher 
in  an  institution  for  the  later  education  needs 
far  other  qualities  than  are  essential  for  the  suc- 
cessful master  of  a  school.  If  the  latter  be  a  man 
of  good  character,  a  student  of  human  nature, 
and  versed  in  certain  technicalities  of  his  art,  it 
is  not  necessary  that  he  should  possess  much 
more  knowledge  than  he  is  called  upon  to  com- 
municate. But  the  universit}^  renders  its  pecu- 
liar service  to  the  community  by  collecting  men 
of  the  highest  standard  of  attainment.  The  true 
college  professor  is  never  a  pedagogue,  but  al- 
ways a  student.  He  lives  in  the  high  atmos- 
phere of  his  science,  whether  it  be  moral, 
speculative,  or  exact.  He  comes  to  his  class- 
room fresh  from  the  investigation  of  a  great  sub- 
ject, and  filled  Avith  enthusiasm  for  further 
knowledge  of  it ;  and  it  is  by  the  atmosphere  he 
brings  with  him  that  the  minds  of  his  j)iipils 
must  be  invigorated.    The  school  and  the  college 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        81 

are  parts  of  one  system,  and  must  improve  or 
degenerate  together.  It  is  by  compelling  the 
professor  to  attempt  work  which  he  must  do 
poorly,  but  which  might  have  been  well  done  at 
school,  that  his  office  is  hampered  and  belittled. 
The  position  which  is  false  for  a  college  instruc- 
tor is  the  true  one  for  the  master  of  a  school. 
His  sphere  is  not,  or  should  not  be,  so  large  as 
to  preclude  the  constant  oversight  of  those  sub- 
mitted to  his  care.  He  deals  with  boys  who 
know  that  they  are  boys.  To  him  belongs  the 
authority  of  the  parent;  to  the  professor,  the 
guidance,  by  example  and  counsel,  of  the  elder 
brother.  AVhen  I  think  of  the  amiable  and  emi- 
nent men  with  whom,  as  a  college  student,  I 
was  brouglit  in  contact,  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
with  patience  of  a  system  which  seemed  devised 
to  deprive  them  of  just  the  conditions  in  which 
they  might  have  been  magnetic.  They  stood 
before  us  in  the  fetters  of  a  malign  enchantment. 
Here  were  men  capable  of  filling  the  offices  of 
guide,  philosopher,  and  friend,  after  far  higher 
standards  than  Pope  ever   fancied ;    and   some 

F  4* 


82  COERCION  IN  THE 

perverse  fairy  was  permitted  to  neutralize  their 
powers  by  thrusting  upon  them  the  additional 
function  of  policeman.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
this  monstrous  combination  prevented  the  greater 
professors  from  filling  with  efficiency  their  right- 
ful office.  The  awkward  attempts  at  discipline 
which  they  were  forced  to  make  kept  them  in 
relations  of  petty  antagonism  with  minds  that 
would  have  yielded  readily  to  their  higher  in- 
fluence. The  true  order  of  college  precedence 
was  reversed.  An  inferior  order  of  teachers, 
who  were  not  above  the  work  of  turnins^  the 
compulsorj'^  crank,  seemed  to  have  an  advantage 
over  wiser  and  better  men,  who  could  not  be 
used  for  the  ignoble  business.  The  managers 
insisted  upon  doubling  the  parts  of  Pyramus  and 
the  Lion ;  but  it  was  only  Nick  Bottom  who 
rushed  forward  in  jubilant  readiness  to  discharge 
both. 

Of  priceless  value  to  the  nation  are  the  higli- 
minded  and  studious  men,  who,  from  time  to 
time,  fill  chairs  in  our  best  colleges.  They  are 
indeed  ignorant  of  the   arts  of  money-getting. 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        83 

and  unacquainted  with  phases  of  unregenerate 
human  nature  of  which  the  man  of  affairs  has 
daily  experience.  Never  having  been  more  than 
one-half  boy,  —  and  that  the  best  half,  —  they 
find  it  difficult  to  comprehend  the  whimsical 
codes  that  fetter  the  average  college-student, 
and  have  sometimes  queerest  notions  of  the  laws 
of  evidence.  Put  one  of  these  men  to  his  right 
work,  and  his  worth  is  incalculable.  Compel 
him  to  be  judge,  jury,  and  executioner,  among 
those  who  are  passing  through  the  most  sensi- 
tive age  known  to  mortals,  and  you  have  left 
nothing  undone  to  reduce  his  powers  to  their 
meanest  minimum. 

While  advocating  the  voluntary  system  under 
the  conditions  already  specified,  I  certainly  do 
not  claim,  that,  when  it  is  first  tried,  its  success 
will  seem  very  striking.  From  what  may  be  a 
prudent  deference  to  the  doubts  of  respected 
educators  like  Dr.  McCosh,  the  outgrown  prin- 
ciple cannot  at  once  be  thoroughly  abandoned, 
nor  the  better  one  honestlv  enforced.  Against 
the  crude  and  reckless  application  of   reform, 


84  COERCION  IN  THE 

which  wise  reformers  should  be  the  first  to  dep- 
recate, we  have  a  guarantee  in  the  character  of 
the  men  who  direct  our  institutions  for  the  later 
education.  No  change  can  instantly  penetrate 
the  inner  life  of  a  college,  and  show  the  gain  it 
may  ultimately  produce.  Those  in  authority 
will  proceed  little  by  little,  with  the  view  of 
testing  alleged  improvements  by  positive  and 
definite  experiments ;  and  they  are  right  in 
doing  so.  But  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  that 
the  lingering  consequences  of  regulations  par- 
tially repealed  allow  only  hazy  indications  of 
results  that  might  follow  their  total  abrogation. 
Some  time  must  elapse  before  those  indefinable 
influences  which  constitute  a  moral  climate  can 
make  themselves  felt. 

But,  when  the  period  of  probation  is  passed, — 
and  marks  and  compulsions,  and  personal  com- 
petitions, have  been  consigned  to  their  place 
among  provisional  methods  in  the  higher  train- 
ing,—  I  believe  that  recitations  (if  daily  in- 
structions are  still  called  by  that  name)  may  be 
made  so  interesting,  and   evidently  helpful  to 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        85 

the  student,  that  the  wish  to  avoid  them  will  be 
unknown.  The  sentiments  with  which  many- 
have  regarded  the  college  recitation,  as  they 
knew  it,  were  not  wholly  without  justification. 
Four-fifths  of  it  were  useless  to  students  who 
had  mastered  the  prescribed  lesson.  Yet  all 
were  obliged  to  sit,  hour  after  hour,  upon  pain- 
ful benches,  to  hear  those  who  would  not  study 
stumble  over  simplest  passages,  or  dodge  the 
very  obvious  snares  that  the  professor  was  forced 
to  set  for  them.  And,  unhappily,  the  passive 
protests  against  the  system,  which  the  true 
teachers  could  not  be  restrained  from  making, 
sometimes  served  to  intensify  its  inherent  mis- 
chiefs.    There  was  Professor ,  for  instance, 

who  taught  a  science  that  I  will  call  political 
economy,  and  who  possessed  every  personal 
requisite  for  giving  the  highest  intellectual  guid- 
ance. The  winning  sunshine  diffused  by  the  pres- 
ence of  that  thoughtful  and  inquiring  teacher 
can  never  fade  from  the  memories  of  those  who 
have  felt  its  influence.  Left  to  his  own  reason- 
able methods,  how  perfectly  would  he  have  per- 


86  COERCION  IN  THE 

sonified  that  element  of  kindly  justness  in  opin- 
ion which  commands  the  allegiance  of  young 
persons !  But  the  energy  of  this  man  was 
lowered  and  absorbed  by  the  fetters  in  which 
he  was  required  to  work.  He  was  incapable  of 
playing  the  captious  pedagogue,  expert  in  trip- 
ping dunces.  Students  were  permitted  to  keep 
their  text-books  open  in  his  recitation-room,  and 
were  called  upon  in  regular  sequence.  But  habits 
created  by  customary  arrangements  were  not  to 
be  changed  by  this  covert  repudiation  of  the 
principle  upon  which  they  rested.  The  recita- 
tion was  still  for  marks  ;  and  these  were  to  be 
obtained,  not  by  a  general  comprehension  of  the 
science,  but  by  memorizing  those  few  passages 
of  a  text-book  upon  which  each  was  to  exhibit. 
But  suppose  this  gifted  teacher  had  been  per- 
mitted to  substitute  his  own  electric  forces  for 
the  dull  mechanical  ones  by  which  he  was 
forced  to  grind  out  certain  results  !  If  I  ven- 
ture to  put  in  words  the  persuasions  that  might 
have  inaugurated  a  free  intercourse  with  his 
classes,  it  must  be  remembered  that  no  type  can 


LATER  STAGES  OE  EDUCATION.        87 

represent  the  gentle  tones  that  would  have  filled 
them  with  abounding  power  :  — 

"  We  have  come  together,  young  gentlemen,  to 
pursue  some  studies  in  political  economy.  We 
shall  use  Mr.  Mill's  work  as  a  text-book  ;  but, 
in  connection  with  it,  I  shall,  from  time  to  time, 
advise  you  to  read  portions  of  the  works  of 
other  authors.  By  a  free  interchange  of  ques- 
tion and  reply,  Ave  shall  make  our  study  inter- 
esting. Some  of  the  forms  of  the  old  recitation 
we  shall  find  it  well  to  retain.  From  time  to 
time,  I  shall  ask  those  who  are  willing  to  be 
called  upon  to  give  in  their  own  language  the 
results  of  our  reading  and  conversations.  I  may 
answer  a  question  about  the  examinations  that 
are  to  be  passed  at  the  end  of  the  term  by  say- 
ing that  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  tliem.  For 
a  statement  of  what  will  be  required,  together 
with  the  penalties  for  failure,  I  refer  you  to  the 
regulations  issued  by  the  business  managers  of 
this  institution.  I  will  mention  only  that  these 
examinations  are  minute,  and  will  be  conducted 
chiefly  in  writing.     They  will  thoroughly  test 


88  COERCION  IN  THE 

your  real  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  our  study 
by  evidence  as  nearly  infallible  as  the  experience 
of  experts  can  devise.  But  let  this  be  the  last 
word  or  thought  we  give  to  them.  We  have 
only  to  feel  the  interest  and  value  of  the  science 
as  it  opens  before  us  ;  and  we  need  trouble  our- 
selves as  little  about  the  tests  of  the  examiners 
as  the  wise  man  is  concerned  about  the  ways  in 
which  the  world  will  find  him  out." 

But,  however  confident  we  may  be  that  there 
is  no  surer  way  of  promoting  honor  and  self- 
control  among  a  good  class  of  young  men  than 
by  assuming  these  qualities  to  exist,  it  is  cer- 
tainly true  that  some  restraining  machinery  must 
be  kept  ready  for  action  where  large  numbers 
are  brought  together.  If  the  bolts  of  disciiDline 
are  not  to  be  thrown  by  the  weak  and  erring 
hands  of  literary  professors,  to  what  power 
should  they  properly  be  confided?  I  answer, 
The  laws  of  the  land  for  the  protection  of  per- 
son and  of  propert}',  and  for  the  correction  of 
lawlessness  and  vice,  should  be  enforced  by  the 
business  managers  of  the  university.    Any  police 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        89 

force  found  necessary  to  protect  buildings  and 
grounds  should  be  provided.  A  salaried  law- 
officer  should  be  employed  by  the  council  of 
directors  to  protect  the  interests  of  their  trust 
by  the  methods  known  to  his  craft.  It  should 
be  clearly  understood,  that  the  outrageous  as- 
saults that  are  sometimes  committed  under  the 
name  of  "  haziuQ- "  would  be  submitted  to  the 
investigation  and  punishment  of  the  courts. 
The  crime  of  endangering  property  and  life  by 
bonfires  or  otherwise  should  be  prosecuted  by 
a  vigilant  attorney.  Offences  which  the  law 
cannot  restrain  (and  these  are  fewer  than  might 
be  supposed)  should  be  reported  to  the  council 
of  directors,  to  be  dealt  with  by  warning  or 
expulsion,  as  should  seem  best.  But,  these 
forces  existing,  they  would  rarely  or  never  be 
called  into  action  against  young  men  who  had 
learned  how  to  study,  and,  in  their  daily  inter- 
course with  their  teachers,  were  gaining  that 
invaluable  part  of  education  which  comes  through 
independent,  responsible  action. 

The  administration  of  discipline  by  instruct- 


90  COERCION  IN  THE 

ors  in  the  highest  education  is  so  admirably 
treated  by  President  Venable  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  that  little  can  be  added  to  a 
citation  of  his  remarks :  "  I  have  seen  the  plan 
of  trusting  to  the  students'  honor  and  of  the 
abolition  of  all  espionage  tested  here  and  in 
the  University  of  South  Carolina.  It  has  also 
been  adopted  in  most  of  the  Virginia  colleges 
with  the  best  results.  Its  effects  in  imbuing 
the  bod}'  of  the  students  with  the  spirit  of  truth 
and  candor,  in  giving  them  the  proper  scorn  for 
a  lie,  and  in  promoting  a  frank  and  manly  inter- 
course between  the  students  and  professors,  can- 
not be  too  highly  estimated.  A  student  who  is 
known  to  have  been  guilty  of  a  violation  of  his 
examination-pledge,  or  of  any  other  falsehood 
in  his  dealings  with  the  authorities  (things  of 
rare  occurrence),  is  not  permitted  by  his  fellows 
to  remain  in  the  institution.  I  believe,  that,  if 
this  sj'stem  of  trust  and  confidence  were  adopted 
in  all  the  colleges  in  the  laud,  it  would  prove  an 
inestimable  blessing  to  our  country  in  inculcat- 
ing  manliness,    truth,  and   integrity  upon   our 


LATER  STAGES  OF   EDUCATION.        91 

future  rulers."  The  good  advice  with  which, 
on  many  occasions,  Massachusetts  has  favored 
Virginia,  is  handsomely  repaid  in  these  wise  and 
sufjijestive  words. 

Compnlsory  attendance  at  daily  religious  wor- 
ship seems  to  lack  all  logical  justification  in  an 
American   university.      One   party  of   sensible 
and  good  men  will  tell  you  that  compulsory  col- 
lege prayers  are  the  master-device  of  Satan  for 
killins'  all  real  devotion  in   the   human   breast. 
On  the  other  hand,  persons  of  equal  excellence 
protest   against   any  form    of  education  which 
lacks  this  dail}'  recognition  of  the  religious  obli- 
gations of  man.     While  these  utterly  conflict- 
ing views  exist,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  that  a 
great  university,  open  to  all  persons  and  respect- 
ing all  consciences,  should  pronounce  judgment 
in  the  matter.     While  opportunities  for  attend- 
ing   public    worship    should    be    furnished,    the 
obligation  to  attend  them  should  be  enforced  by 
the  legal  guardian  of  the  minor  student.     It  is  a 
responsibility  that  belongs  to  parents,  and  which, 
for  the  good  of  all  parties,  they  should  not  be 


92  COERCION  IN  THE 

permitted  to  shirk.  As  testimony  to  the  fact  of 
attendance  upon  divine  service,  I  venture  to  say 
that  there  is  not  one  parent  in  a  thousand  who 
would  hesitate  to  take  the  word  of  the  son  he 
is  sujDporting  at  college.  The  censure  or  pen- 
alty for  remissness  in  this  duty  —  if  it  were 
regarded  as  a  duty — should  be  left  in  his  hands. 
But,  while  insisting  that  mental  culture 
should  be  the  sole  end  of  university  require- 
ments^ I  yield  to  no  one  in  the  belief  of  its 
inadequacy  to  secure  a  complete  and  healthy 
manhood.  An  ability  to  stand  bravely  in  a 
minority,  a  love  of  truth  that  shall  weigh  lightly 
all  earthly  advantages,  —  these  are  the  gifts  of 
a  high  and  reverent  faith.  That  "  purification  " 
from  natural  and  acquired  sin  which  Plato  con- 
sidered the  essential  of  human  worth  is  likewise 
the  first  requirement  of  Christianity.  The  sol- 
emn cry  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Wherewithal  shall  a 
young  man  cleanse  his  way  ?  "  every  individual 
is  bound  to  answer  at  his  peril,  and  as  wisely  as 
he  may.  It  is  doubted  only  whether  this  ques- 
tion can  be  wisely  answered  by  the  formal  regu- 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        93 

lations  of  a  secular  corporation  constituted  for 
other  purposes.  The  University  of  Virginia 
does  not  exact  attendance  upon  daily  religious 
services ;  and  its  president  gives  important  and 
gratifying  testimony  to  the  good  results  of  this 
liberality.  When  any  considerable  number  of 
persons  demand  for  a  portion  of  the  students  of 
a  university  instruction  and  oversight  conforma- 
ble with  a  special  mode  of  religious  belief,  the 
foundation  of  different  halls  or  homes  will  meet 
their  wishes.  The  occupants  of  these  institu- 
tions may,  of  course,  be  subjected  to  such  super- 
visions and  compulsions  as  their  supporters 
approve. 

I  have  thus  specified  some  of  the  conditions 
which  men  of  radical  thought  believe  an  institu- 
tion for  the  later  education  should  fulfil.  The 
university  should  gradually  abandon  its  petty 
coercions  and  petty  competitions,  and  represent 
in  the  highest  sense  that  "  community  "  which 
was  signified  by  the  mediceval  use  of  the  word. 
The  well-known  law  in  mechanics,  by  which 
two  forces  not  in  the   same  direction  may  be 


94  COERCION  IN  THE 

replaced  by  a  single  force,  is  potent  in  the  im- 
material world.  We  look  back  with  something 
like  incredulity  to  the  time  when  college  instruct- 
ors administered  corporal  chastisement  upon 
refractory  students.  It  is  difficult  to  believe, 
that,  less  than  a  century  ago,  those  appointed  to 
minister  to  minds  diseased  could  think  of  no 
better  sedatives  than  the  fetter  and  the  lash. 
Another  generation  may  look  upon  existing  rela- 
tionships between  teacher  and  taught  in  the  later 
stages  of  education  as  scarcely  less  false  and  de- 
moralizing. For  what  Bacon  has  said  of  philoso- 
phers is  equally  applicable  to  a  too  commonly 
accepted  status  of  college  professors  :  "  They  are 
stars  which  give  little  light,  because  they  are 
so  high."  The  student  is  encouraged  to  look 
ujion  himself  as  a  victim,  and  upon  his  tutor  as 
a  licensed  executioner,  and  seeks  his  revenge  in  a 
whispered  gibe  or  doubtful  epigram.  It  is  time 
that  the  miserable  game  of  thrust-and-parry, 
played  between  the  crammers  and  the  crammed, 
should  give  place  to  a  nobler  relation.  The 
utmost  skill  of  the  great  professor  will  always 


LATER  STAGES  OF  EDUCATION.        95 

lie  in  the  simple  truth  of  the  science  his  own 
labor  has  created  or  enlarged.  An  institution 
will  attract  such  men  —  nay,  it  may  be  said  to 
create  them  —  by  providing  them  with  con- 
genial work.  The  university  that  best  knows 
how  to  use  these  rare  teachers  —  men  of  sensi- 
tive and  highly-refined  organizations  —  may 
claim  to  be  national  in  the  noblest  sense  of  that 
much-abused  adjective.  Such  a  metropolis  of 
learning,  where  the  highest  American  culture 
may  thrive  under  the  most  fitting  conditions,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  is  not  far  from  us.  Its  advent 
will  fill  with  intellectual  ambition  many  who 
have  not  yet  felt  such  stimulus.  Confining  its 
benefactions  to  the  divine  gifts  of  liberty  and 
opportunity,  it  will  cause  a  normal  expansion  of 
that  mental  power  so  greatly  needed  to  cope 
with  the  complex  problems  our  democracy  is 
thrusting  upon  us.  In  better  ways  than  by 
exacting  prayers  and  praises  from  reluctant 
youths  will  the  great  university  honor  Him 
"whose  service  is  perfect  freedom." 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 


'TPHIS  is  a  one-sided  paper.  Something  might 
be  said  on  the  other  side ;  but,  as  tliat 
is  the  popular  side,  it  is  likely  to  receive  full 
justice.  In  behalf  of  an  unconverted  minority, 
■who  should  be  represented  through  the  press, 
if  nowhere  else,  I  desire  to  register  a  dissent 
from  the  prevailing  opinion  concerning  the 
function  of  libraries  sustained  by  the  taxation 
of  towns  and  small  municipalities.  The  im- 
portance of  stimulating  thought  upon  subjects 
bearing  ever  so  remotely  upon  our  fiscal  re- 
quirements, I  conceive  to  be  far  greater  than 
may  superficially  appear.  For  when  the  mass 
of  our  people  clearly  comprehend  what  govern- 
ment should  not  be  called  upon  to  do  for  them, 
they  will  insist  upon  its  performing  duties 
which  are  manifestly  within   its  sphere  of  ac- 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES.       97 


lion.  Laboring  men  and  women  are  to-day 
sufferins:  from  the  adidteration  of  their  food 
and  drink,  and  from  a  system  of  taxation 
which  oppresses  them  with  weighty  and  un- 
just burdens.  Their  deliverance  can  only  come 
by  dismissing  legislators  who  are  disciples  of 
what  may  be  called  the  Todgers  school  of  econo- 
my ;  that  remarkable  matron,  as  Dickens  tells 
us,  caring  little  for  the  solid  sustenance  of 
her  boarders,  pi-ovided  "  the  gravy  "  was  abun- 
dant and  satisfactory. 

Upon  what  principle  can  the  citizen,  who 
thinks  before  he  casts  his  ballot,  justify  him- 
self in  voting  increased  taxes  upon  his  neigh- 
bors for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  library  ? 
He  must  assume  the  necessity  of  public  schools, 
and  then  argue  that  he  may  vote  for  a  library 
that  will  supplement  the  elementary  instruction 
which  the  town  provides.  And  the  justifica- 
tion is  ample.  If  our  schools  are  so  conducted 
as  to  awaken  a  taste  for  knowledge  and  give 
a  correct  method  in  English  reading,  the  town 
library  may   represent   the   university   brought 

Q,  5 


98       FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

to  every  man's  door.  But  suppose  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  funds  taken  from  tax-payers  is 
devoted  to  circulating  ephemeral  works  of 
mere  amusement.  Is  it  not  as  monstrous  for 
me  to  vote  to  tax  my  neighbor  to  furnish  the 
boys  and  girls  with  "A  Terrible  Tribulation," 
or  "  Lady  So-and-So's  Struggle,"  as  it  would  be 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  them  with  free 
tickets  to  witness  "  Article  47  "  or  "  The  Bhick 
Crook  "  ?  These  romances  and  dramas  (to  rep- 
resent them  in  the  most  favorable  point  of 
view)  are  evanescent  productions,  designed  to 
meet  the  market  demand  for  the  intense  and 
spasmodic.  Their  claims  to  patronage  from 
the  public  purse  are  precisely  similar. 

So  far,  the  citizen  has  a  right  to  object  as 
a  tax-payer.  But,  if  he  were  truly  solicitous 
for  the  welfare  of  the  community  about  him, 
the  protest  might  be  far  deeper.  For  the  weak 
spot  in  our  school  system  lies  just  here  :  while 
claiming  immense  credit  for  giving  most  of 
our  children  the  ability  to  read,  we  show  the 
profoundest  indifference  about  what  they  read. 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES,       99 

But  this  accomplisliraent  of  reading  is  a  very 
doubtful  good  if  it  goes  no  farther  than  to  give 
a  boy  the  satisfaction  of  perusing  "  The  Police 
Gazette,"  or  introduces  a  girl  to  the  immorali- 
ties of  Mr.  Griffith  Gaunt,  and  the  adventures 
of  a  hundred  other  heroes  of  characters  even 
more  questionable.  By  teaching  our  children 
to  read,  and  then  setting  them  adrift  in  a  sea 
of  feverish  literature  which  vitiates  the  taste 
and  enervates  the  character,  we  show  an  indif- 
ference about  as  sensible  as  that  of  the  old 
lady  who  thought  it  could  not  matter  whether 
her  son  had  gone  to  the  bosom  of  Abraham 
or  Beelzebub,  seeing  that  they  were  both 
Scripture  names. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  of  communities, 
existing  in  Greenland  or  elsewhere,  which  might 
legitimately  tax  the  citizen  to  furnish  his  neigh- 
bors with  their  novel-reading.  But  it  can* 
scarcely  be  disputed  that  an  increased  facility 
for  obtaining  works  of  fiction  is  not  the  press- 
ing need  of  our  country  in  this  present  year 
of  grace.     Dr.  Isaac  Ray,  perhaps  our  higliest 


100     FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

authority  on  morbid  mental  phenomena,  eon- 
eludes  his  study  on  the  effects  of  the  prevalent 
romantic  literature  in  these  words ;  "  The 
specific  doctrine  I  would  inculcate  is,  that  the 
excessive  indulgence  in  novel-reading,  which 
is  a  characteristic  of  our  times,  is  chargeable 
with  many  of  the  mental  irregularities  that 
prevail  among  us  in  a  degree  unknown  at  any 
former  period."  The  late  Dr.  Forbes  Winslow, 
a  physician  of  similar  note  in  England,  used 
still  stronger  language  in  describing  how  fear- 
fully and  fatally  suggestive  to  the  minds  of 
the  young  are  those  artistically  developed 
records  of  sin  which  form  the  staple  of  the  pop- 
ular novel.  In  these  days  of  disordered  nerve 
centres,  and  commissions  to  inquire  into  every 
thing,  we  neglect  much  valuable  information 
which  lies  upon  the  surface.  It  is  well  to 
bear  in  mind  that  our  eminent  bibliographer, 
Mr.  Spofford,  has  informed  us  that  "  masses 
of  novels  and  other  ephemeral  publications 
overload  most  of  our  popular  libraries ; "  and 
that  our  wisest  physicians  have  agreed  as  to 
the  influence  they  exert. 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES.     101 

Of  course  these  views  will  be  met  by  a 
brusque  statement  that  town  libraries  must 
supply  such  books  as  people  want,  and  that 
they  demand  the  current  novels  in  unlimited 
quantities.  But  I  rej^udiate  the  dismal  fal- 
lacy upon  which  such  an  argimient  is  based. 
Plum-cake  and  champagne  would  doubtless  be 
demanded  at  a  Sunday-school  picnic,  were 
these  delicacies  placed  upon  the  table  ;  but, 
if  the  committee  did  not  think  it  necessar}^  to 
supply  them  from  the  parish  funds,  is  it  cer- 
tain that  a  fair  amount  of  cold  beef  and  hast}''- 
pudding  would  not  be  consumed  in  their  stead  ? 
And  if  a  heartless  man-government  declined 
to  furnish  Maggie  and  Mollie  with  "  The  Pi- 
rate's Penance  "  or  "  The  Bride's  Bigamy " 
for  their  Sabbath  reading,  is  it  not  possible 
that  those  fair  voters  of  the  future  might 
substitute  Mrs.  Fawcett's  interesting  illustra- 
tions of  political  economy,  or  some  outline  of 
human  physiology,  their  knowledge  of  which 
would  bless  an  unborn  generation  ? 

I  do  not  advocate  the  absurdity  of  a  town 


102     FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

library  which  should  chiefly  consist  of  authors 
like  Plato  and  Professor  Peirce.  No  one  can 
doubt  that  the  great  majority  of  its  volumes 
should  be  emphatically  popular  in  their  charac- 
ter. They  should  furnish  intelligible  and  inter- 
esting reading  to  the  average  graduate  of  the 
town  schools.  And  there  is  no  lack  of  such 
works.  The  outlines  of  physical  and  social 
science  have  been  written  by  men  of  genius 
in  simple  and  attractive  style.  History  and 
biography  in  the  hands  of  their  masters  give 
a  healthy  stimulus  to  the  imagination,  and 
tend  to  strengthen  the  character.  The  func- 
tion of  a  town  library  should  be  to  supply 
reading  improving  and  interesting,  and  yet, 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  pojjular ;  and 
I  maintain  that  this  can  be  done,  without  set- 
ting up  a  rival  agency  to  the  news-stand,  the 
book-club,  and  the  weekly  paper,  for  tlie  cir- 
culation of  the  novels  of  the  day. 

There  is  a  saying  of  Dr.  Johnson,  to  the 
effect,  that,  if  a  boy  be  let  loose  in  a  librarj',  he 
is  likely  to  give  himself  a  very  fair  education. 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES.     103 

But,  in  accepting  this  dictum,  we  must  remem- 
ber the  sort  of  library  the  doctor  had  in  his 
mind.  As  known  to  liim,  it  was  based  uj^on 
sohd  volumes  of  systematized  information. 
Besides  these  were  the  noblest  poems  of  the 
world,  a  very  few  great  romances,  and  pon- 
derous tomes  of  controversial  theology ;  good, 
healthy  food,  and  much  of  it  attractive  to 
an  unpampered  boy-appetite. 

But  the  range  of  a  large  librarj--  is  by  no 
means  necessary  to  produce  the  soundest  educa- 
tional results.  Can  it  be  doubted  that  familiar 
knowledge  of  a  small  case  of  well-selected  books 
—  such,  for  instance,  as  the  modest  stipend 
of  a  country  clergyman  easily  collects  —  is 
better  for  boy  and  girl  than  the  liberty  of 
devouring  a  thousand  highly-flavored  sweets 
in  the  free  library  ?  At  all  events,  a  few  old- 
fashioned  people  do  not  question  it.  "  A  year 
ago,"  writes  one  of  them,  "  Alice  used  to  read 
Irving  and  Spenser,  and  Tom  was  dipping  into 
Gibbon  and  Shakespeare ;  liking  them  well 
enough,  yet  preferring  a  game  of  base-ball  to 


101     FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

either,  as  it  was  proper  he  should.  But  the 
town  Ubrary  was  0]Dened,  and  these  young  peo- 
ple are  found  crouching  over  novels  in  out-of- 
the-way  corners,  when  they  ought  to  be  at  play  ; 
or  reading  surreptitiously  at  night,  when  they 
ought  to  be  asleep."  It  is  in  vain  to  throw  all 
the  responsibility  upon  parents.  American 
parents  are  very  busy,  and  somewhat  careless. 
Mrs.  Fanny  Firefly's  highly-seasoned  love-stories 
for  girls,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Sensation's  boy-novels 
and  spiced  preparations  of  boned  history,  are 
got  up,  like  the  port-wine  drops  of  the  confec- 
tioners, to  tempt  and  to  sell.  And  they  do 
their  work.  No  one  can  examine  the  averae^e 
boy  and  girl  of  the  period  without  being  struck 
with  their  ignorance  of  the  great  works  of  Eng- 
lish literature  which  young  people  of  a  former 
generation  were  accustomed  to  read  with  profit 
and  delight. 

The  function  of  a  town  library  is  to  supple- 
ment the  town  schools ;  to  gratify  the  taste  for 
knowledge  which  they  should  have  imparted  ; 
and  to   serve   as   an  instrument  for   that    self- 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES.     105 

education  to  wliich  there  is  no  limit.  But  tax- 
payers are  not  bound  to  circulate  twenty-seven 
thousand  novels  against  nineteen  hundred  vol- 
umes of  biography  and  seventeen  hundred  of 
history,  according  to  the  figures  of  one  report ; 
or  to  expend  two-tliirds  of  the  working  force  of 
their  establishment  in  sending  out  "  novels  and 
juveniles,"  according  to  the  statement  of  another. 
In  a  word,  information,  not  excitement,  should 
be  imbibed  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  town 
library.  That  prevailing  infirmity  of  our  time 
which  seems  to  substitute  sensibility  for  morality 
should  there  find  small  encouragement.  But 
we  sliall  never  know  what  this  institution 
might  do  for  a  community,  so  long  as  the  temp- 
tation of  free  novels  is  thrust  in  the  faces  of  all 
who  enter.  For  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
our  3'outh  fresh  from  school,  moving  among  the 
countless  agitations  of  American  life,  will  select 
reading  that  may  require  some  mental  exertion, 
so  long  as  mental  excitement  is  offered  them  in 
unlimited  amounts. 

I  am  well  aware  how  much  may  be  said  for 
r.  5* 


106     FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

the  story-tellers,  and  how  many  people  there 
are  to  say  it ;  and,  whenever  there  is  danger  of 
their  being  unduly  neglected,  my  voice  shall  be 
loudly  raised  in  their  behalf.  But  one  rnay 
allow  the  claims  of  the  romancers,  from  Sche- 
herazade to  Mrs.  Southworth,  and  yet  maintain 
that  the  theory  upon  which  the  average  town 
library  is  run  is  faulty.  There  is  no  virtue  in 
despising  cakes  and  ale,  and  the  heat  of  ginger 
in  the  mouth  may  at  times  impart  a  wholesome 
glow  to  the  entire  system.  But  it  does  not 
quite  follow  that  it  is  the  function  of  American 
towns  to  supply  these  stimulants  gratis,  at  the 
expense  of  their  tax-payers.  While  we  consider 
the  immense  amount  of  reading  of  a  certain 
sort  that  a  town  library  supplies,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  there  are  other  sorts  of  reading 
it  may  possibly  prevent.  For  it  may  encourage 
reading  precisely  as  prodigality  encourages  in- 
dustry. Luxury  and  profusion  do  indeed  feed 
industry,  and  demoralize  it  ;  but  the  industry 
which  serves  God  by  blessing  man,  they  pre- 
vent from  being  fed.     I  fear  that  in  these  days 


FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES.     107 

more  noble  capacities  die  of  a  surfeit  from  too 
much  poor  reading,  than  starve  from  want  of  good 
books.  The  valid  defence  of  institutions  work- 
ing in  the  interest  of  State  education  is  this : 
they  prevent  a  waste  of  power.  When  any  one 
of  them  can  be  shown  to  encourage  waste  of 
power,  it  needs  looking  after.  In  our  complex 
social  condition,  the  real  consequences  of  any 
government  interference  extend  far  beyond  its 
apparent  consequences.  An  institution  may  be 
very  useful  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  yet  hurt- 
ful if  allowed  to  run  its  full  course  without  re- 
straining criticism. 

The  managers  of  our  smaller  libraries  are  apt 
to  be  picked  men,  who  give  unrequited  labor 
and  intelligence  to  their  trust.  But  tliev  are 
chosen  at  town-meeting,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
must  carry  out  the  wishes  of  their  electors. 
Upon  this  matter,  as  upon  most  others,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  thoughtful  men  and  women  to 
create  a  wholesome  public  opinion.  They  must 
recognize  the  fact  that  the  change  from  a  few 
good  books  to  an  unlimited  supply  of  all  sorts 


108     FUNCTION  OF  TOWN  LIBRARIES. 

of  books  is  by  no  means  an  unmixed  advantage 
to  a  community.  While  the  results  of  town 
libraries,  taken  in  the  aggregate,  are  undoubt- 
edly good,  it  is  our  duty  to  consider  whether 
they  ought  not  to  be  better. 


THE  ABUSE    OF  READING. 


ipvR.  HOLMES  has  pointed  a  well-known 
sarcasm  against  the  man  who  "  goes  out  " 
at  a  lecture :  he  goes  out  because  he  knows 
that  his  brain  is  full.  It  is  said  that  orators  at 
country  lyceums  have  borrowed  this  jest  with 
great  effect  when  the  first  pair  of  boots  went 
creaking  down  the  aisle.  On  one  occasion,  how- 
ever, the  man  who  was  going  out  suddenly 
faced  about,  waited  for  the  laughter  to  subside, 
and  put  in  this  reply  :  "I  cordially  accept  your 
explanation  of  my  departure.  I  do  go  out 
because  I  know  that  my  brain  is  full.  By  so 
doing,  I  set  an  example  much  needed,  and  show 
myself  a  hero  of  a  rare  type.  I  enjoy  your 
rhetoric  and  wit  as  thoroughly  as  anybody. 
Nay,  it  is  only  by  a  strong  effort  of  the  will 
that  I  can  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  sitting 
here,  night  after  night,  to  hear  you  and  your 


110  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

brother-artists  discourse  volubly  upon  all  sub- 
jects under  heaven.  But,  at  this  precise  point 
of  your  discourse,  I  have  received  as  many  new 
ideas  as  I  can  appropriate.  I  therefore  propose 
to  return  home,  where  I  shall  refer  to  principles 
the  facts  you  have  mentioned ;  or  it  may  be 
that  I  shall  compare  them  with  a  few  other  facts 
of  my  own  observation,  and  attempt  to  gen- 
eralize them  all  into  a  system.  The  physiolo- 
gists write  treatises  upon  the  importance  of 
ceasing  to  eat  as  soon  as  one  has  taken  into  the 
stomach  such  amount  of  food  as  it  can  perfectly 
assimilate,  and  from  which  it  can  develop  a 
maximum  of  force.  It  is  doubtless  a  pleasant 
self-indulgence  to  partake  of  choice  dishes  after 
that  period,  and  to  dull  the  consciousness  of 
abuse  with  drauglits  of  wine  as  sparkling  as 
your  discourse.  But  he  who  declines  over-feast- 
ing commands  the  resjDect  of  the  wise.  Feel- 
ing that  my  brain  is  full,  it  appears  that  you 
can  no  longer  pour  into  it,  but  only  over  it. 
If  I  go  out,  it  may  be  because  I  am  the  only  one 
of  your  auditors  who  has  sense  enough  to  know 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING.  HI 

his    limit    of    appropriation,    and    self-respect 
enough  to  act  upon  it." 

I  am  not  certain  that  this  is  a  true  story.  Its 
authenticity  has  been  impeached,  upon  the 
ground  that  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  the 
feeblest  human  brain  should  find  itself  clogged, 
or  in  any  way  incommoded,  with  the  amount  of 
wisdom  dispensed  in  an  hour's  worth  of  lyceum 
lecture.  But,  if  we  are  compelled  to  regard 
the  narrative  as  a  myth  or  parable,  it  may  be 
well  to  consider  the  symbolic  teaching  that  it 
was  designed  to  convey.  Perhaps,  if  the 
printed  word  be  substituted  for  that  which  is 
spoken,  the  defence  of  this  man  who  went  out 
may  acquire  its  true  pertinency. 

It  has  often  been  remarked,  upon  occasions  of 
high  festival,  that  the  attempt  to  teach  every 
citizen  to  read  was  the  crowning  glory  of  our 
beloved  country.  To  which  worthy  service  we 
are  about  to  add  another,  whose  possibilities  of 
usefulness  it  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate. 
Already  the  order  has  been  given,  "  Let  the 
State,  that  has  so  tenderly  taught  us  to  read, 


112  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

furnish  abundant  free  literature  in  books,  peri- 
odicals, and  newsj)apers."  And  this  growing 
popular  instinct,  that  no  public  expenditure 
may  yield  better  returns  than  the  town  library, 
is  wholly  right.  Contrast  this  institution  with 
the  bear-garden,  the  cock-pit,  or  the  open  bar 
of  our  ancestors,  and  it  seems  ungracious  to 
hint  that  its  blessed  privileges  are  susceptible  of 
abuse.  Nevertheless,  the  saying  of  a  great 
philosopher,  that  the  legislator  can  educate  in 
one  direction  only  by  wneducating  in  some  other, 
has  a  percentage  of  truth  that  it  will  not  do  to 
forget.  The  State  can  furnish  us  with  no  gift 
that  is  incapable  of  perversion.  The  nobler  the 
beneficence  offered,  the  greater  is  the  necessity 
for  self-restraint  and  intelligent  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  citizen  whom  it  is  designed  to 
benefit.  And  so  in  these  days,  when  reading  is 
confidently  recommended  as  the  chief  means  of 
culture,  it  is  well  that  its  powers  for  evil  and 
good  should  be  judiciously  estimated. 

There  is  an  assumption  in  the  air,  that,  if  a 
person  of  coarse  or  unformed  tastes  can  be  in- 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING.  113 

duced  to  read  any  thing  not  absolutely  indicta- 
ble, he  is  not  only  out  of  harm's  way  for  the 
time,  but  his  face  is  surely  set  Zionward.  And 
it  is  still  more  confidently  assumed,  that,  if  the 
citizen  of  fair  moral  character  and  refined  tastes 
can  be  caught  reading  a  really  good  author,  we 
may  be  sure  that  he  is  spending  his  time  in  a 
manner  most  conducive  to  his  own  welfare,  and 
to  the  interests  of  his  brother  tax-payers  who 
have  furnished  him  with  his  book.  Neither  of 
these  assumptions  should  pass  unquestioned. 

Not  long  ago,  I  had  a  few  words  to  say  upon 
mischief  that  might  possibly  come  through  our 
abundant  facilities  for  poor  reading.  The 
crimes  of  a  continent  served  up  daily  with 
every  foul  detail  by  a  large  portion  of  the  press  ; 
sentimental  interviews  with  murderers  b}'^  New- 
York  journalists,  who  give  their  remarks  with 
rather  more  minuteness  than  Plato  thought  it 
worth  while  to  employ  in  reporting  Socrates ; 
trashy  novels,  confounding  virtue  and  vice  in 
specious  paradoxes,  givi)ig  totally  false  ideas  of 
human  existence  and  human  duty,  —  few  will 


114  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

maintain  that  this  sort  of  reading  is  improving, 
or  even  innocent.  But  those  most  wilHng  to 
confess  the  sad  results  of  incessant  poor  reading 
may  have  failed  to  estimate  the  injury  that  con- 
stantly and  increasingly  threatens  the  higher 
class  of  readers  from  too  much  good  reading. 
This  it  is  that  I  ask  them  to  consider. 

How  many  of  us  who  keenly  enjoy  books 
are  able  to  throw  them  aside  just  at  that  mo- 
ment when  they  have  stirred  to  their  utmost 
efficiency  those  intellectual  and  moral  faculties 
which  constitute  ourseZi'es,  and  for  whose  devel- 
opment and  use  we  are  accountable !  I  have 
known  those  who  would  have  done  as  well  to 
pay  a  man  to  keep  them  from  books  as  Cole- 
ridge did  in  paying  one  to  keep  him  from  opium. 
Worthy  persons  they  were,  of  good  natural  en- 
dowments, who  never  achieved  the  deep  decisive 
lives  of  which  they  were  capable.  They  never 
seemed  able  to  summon  the  strength  of  will  to 
think  out  a  subject  for  themselves,  when,  by 
going  to  a  library,  they  could  indolently  gratify 
their  curiosity  by  reading  what  other  men  had 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING.  115 

thought  about  it.  The  civilization  of  Athens, 
the  most  wonderful  and  widely-diffused  that  the 
world  has  seen,  never  came  through  this  endless 
reading.  Her  great  teacher  resolutely  fought 
against  that  false  appearance  and  conceit  of 
knowledge  that  our  over-indulgence  in  litera- 
ture is  so  apt  to  give.  He  thought  it  his  first 
duty  to  warn  his  hearers  that  ready-made  intel- 
ligence could  in  no  way  be  communicated  to 
them.  He  could  only  aid  them  in  developing 
the  germs  of  knowledge  already  present  in  their 
minds.  The  Socratic  figure  of  the  midwife 
limits  the  function  of  the  writer  as  well  as  that 
of  the  speaker.  This  perpetual  easy  reading 
tends  to  encourage  that  unhappiest  state  of 
mind  for  young  persons,  when  the  thoughts  are 
directed  to  no  definite  end,  but  dance  about 
from  one  author  to  another,  finding  rest  no- 
where. It  threatens  to  make  us  characterless. 
We  have  dearly  purchased  our  one  virtue  of 
tolerance  when  nothing  seems  so  settled  as  to 
be  worth  a  conviction. 

Some  of  us  are  old  enough  to  remember  cer- 


116  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

tain  venerable  survivors  of  a  generation  that 
was  brought  up  on  comparatively  few  books. 
How  little  knew  the  so-called  educated  men  of 
that  period,  and  yet  how  much !  They  were 
well  acquainted  with  the  greater  Greek  and 
Roman  classics ;  and  in  English  they  had  read 
and  re-read  Locke,  Bacon,  Milton  in  prose  and 
verse,  Shakespeare,  and,  above  all,  the  Bible. 
An  intimate  acquaintance  with  these  few  vol- 
umes constituted  their  culture  ;  but  these  they 
had  mastered.  They  made  extracts  from  them 
in  commonplace-books,  discussed  them  at  their 
social  meetings,  and,  as  it  were,  absorbed  them 
into  their  blood.  They  read  actively,  not  pas- 
sively. They  were  not  tempted  to  hurry 
through  a  book  because  there  was  a  public 
library  across  the  way  offering  a  thousand  others 
equally  worthy  of  attention.  They  were  com- 
pelled to  make  the  most  of  their  author,  to 
pause  over  his  statements,  question  his  conclu- 
sions, and  to  arbitrate  between  truth  and  his 
view  of  it.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  the  work 
done  by  this  measured  reading  towards  develop- 


THE  ABUSE  OF  READING.  117 

ing  the  intellect,  storing  the  mind  with  images, 
and  training  the  man  to  habits  of  accuracy  and 
perseverance. 

Warnings  against  the  danger  here  noticed  have 
been  occasionally  heard.  "  Strange,"  exclaims 
Henry  Rogers,  "  if  that  excess  of  literature 
which  we  take  to  be  a  security  against  a  second 
invasion  of  barbarism  should  bring  about  a  con- 
dition of  things  not  much  better  I  "  Niebuhr 
has  lamented  that  "  the  great  multiplication  of 
books  gives  rise  to  the  danger  of  a  still-born 
learning  as  unprolific  as  the  double  flowers  of 
our  gardens."  And  it  is  true  that  we  occasion- 
ally meet  with  immense  readers,  whose  knowl- 
edge consists  of  reports  of  cases  filed  away  in 
the  memory,  but  who  have  left  themselves  no 
time  to  cultivate  the  perception  of  relation 
necessary  to  deduce  the  unknown  from  tlie 
known,  and  so  coin  their  treasures  for  current 
use.  Yet  tliis  is  certainly  not  the  special  peril 
against  which  the  average  American  reader 
should  receive  friendly  counsel.  It  is  no  still- 
born learning  that  his  miscellaneous  reading  is 


118  THE  ABUSE  OF  READING. 

likely  to  produce.  Nothing  worthy  that  name 
can  be  expected  to  come  of  it.  For  it  is  some- 
thing to  retain  in  the  memory  the  verbal  expres- 
sions of  results,  even  when  the  intellect  is  not  put 
to  work  to  grasp  any  principle  they  may  point 
out.  And,  if  much  of  our  high-pressure  reading 
fails  to  give  even  this  potentiality  of  power,  it  is 
well  to  face  the  fact,  that  the  works  of  thinkers 
and  reasoners  may  be  taken  in  opiate  doses,  and 
dull  the  faculties  of  thought  and  reason  in  our- 
selves. 

Mr.  Brown,  a  gentleman  of  middle  age,  who  is 
gradually  withdrawing  from  active  business,  lives 
with  his  family  in  a  prosperous  New-England 
town.  There  is  a  public  library  next  door,  con- 
stantly supplied  with  freshest  books.  By  borrow- 
ing the  cards  of  their  servants,  who  seldom  use 
them,  the  Browns  keep  six  or  eight  volumes 
going  at  a  time.  They  are  a  reading  family, 
bound  to  read  the  best  periodicals  and  newspa- 
pers in  the  reading-room,  as  well  as  all  the  best 
books  that  appear  upon  the  shelves.  They  have 
chipped  off  hasty  scraps  of   every  thing,   and 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING,  119 

read  themselves  into  impartial  imbecility  upon 
all  sides  of  every  question.  Some  or  all  of 
.them  have  drifted  through  the  conspicuous  au- 
thors of  the  day  in  morals,  theology,  poetry, 
romance,  philosoph}^,  and  science.  Renan  and 
Newman,  Schopenhauer  and  Swedenborg, 
Browning  and  Biichner,  Taine,  Matthew  Ar- 
nold, Grote,  Ruskin,  these,  and  a  hundred 
others,  have  come  like  shadows  through  the 
household,  and  so  departed.  They  have  a  nod- 
ding street-acquaintance  with  many  choice  per- 
sons, but  among  them  all  no  friend.  Of  the 
greater  English  classics.  Brown's  young  people, 
who  profess  to  be  highly  educated,  know  nothing 
at  all.  They  stand  unopened  where  their  grand- 
fathers left  them.  They  are,  after  all,  hard 
reading,  also  slow  reading,  demanding  some 
attention  ;  and  where  is  the  time  ?  Here  come 
popularized  sciences  profusely  illustrated : 
society  romances  by  really  clever  writers  ;  specu- 
lations in  religion,  charming  in  style,  and  of 
undoubted  originality ;  atheism,  perfumed  with 
sentiment,  and   defended  with  critical  scholar- 


120  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

ship.  These  must  be  read  or  half-read,  skimmed 
or  skipped  through ;  for  behold  new  books  are 
coming  down  upon  us,  not  as  single  spies,  but 
in  battalions  !  As  Yankee  tax-payers,  we  are 
bound  to  make  a  good  bargain.  We  must  keep 
up  with  the  age  and  the  library. 

"  Intellectual  emancipation,"  said  the  great 
German,  "  if  it  does  not  give  us  command  over 
ourselves,  is  poisonous."  A  Goethe,  doubtless, 
might  read  all  that  Brown  and  his  famil}^  under- 
take to  read,  and  use  every  word  of  it.  But 
Brown  is  not  Goethe,  but  only  Brown.  Like  you 
and  me,  he  was  born  to  train  with  the  rank  and 
file  of  well-intentioned,  commonplace  American 
citizens.  He  wants  a  few  good  books,  adminis- 
tered thoroughly  and  in  proper  sequence,  to 
energize  his  work,  and  elevate  his  character. 
These  might  inspire  him  with  a  worthy  sense  of 
his  function  as  Brown  ;  they  might  give  his 
humble  powers  a  maximum  of  efficiency ;  they 
might  induce  him  to  perform  the  irksome  duties 
of  social  intercourse  with  neighbors  not  quite  so 
wise  as  he  is ;  they  might  give  him  strength  to 


THE  ABUSE  OF  READING.  121 

bear  his  full  burden  of  gross,  unpleasant  politi- 
cal work ;  for  we  may  be  sure  that  the  politi- 
cians who  have  kindly  used  their  "  inliuence  " 
to  furnish  him  with  a  free  librarj^,  ask  only  that 
he  will  stay  there,  and  not  disturb  their  packed 
caucus. 

Of  course,  Brown  has  a  dim  fancy  that  he 
and  his  family  are  getting  educated  at  a  furious 
rate.  But  what  a  satire  upon  the  derivation  of 
the  word  !  He  draws  nothing  out  of  himself, 
and  does  not  succeed  in  putting  much  in  that 
is  valuable.  He  never  tastes  one  flavor  of  his 
own  mind.  As  Hamlet  is  unable  to  act  because 
he  cannot  stop  thinking,  so  Brown  becomes  un- 
able to  think  or  act  because  he  cannot  stop 
reading.  But  his  books  have  not  widened  his 
effective  knowledge,  or  even  increased  his  power 
of  expression.  To  him  the  universe  seems  a 
blur  of  echoes,  a  confusion  of  hearsa3's  and  dis- 
tant reports.  His  individuality  is  almost  oblit- 
erated ;  and  the  honest  work  of  making  what 
he  could  of  himself  he  has  failed  to  do. 

To  any  one  disposed  to  use  some  conscience 

6 


122  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING^ 

in  liis  reading,  there  comes  this  perplexing  ques- 
tion :  What  ought  I  to  do  about  newspapers  ? 
To  which  inquiry,  at  least  this  partial  answer 
may  be  confidently  returned:  You  cannot  do 
without  them.  Doubt  any  one's  good  sense 
Avho  speaks  scornfully  of  newspapers.  There  is 
much  in  them  that  is  trifling,  and  perhaps 
demoralizing ;  but,  in  the  best  of  them,  how 
much  that  is  wise  and  noble  !  What  wealth  of 
enjoyment  and  instruction  they  may  bring  to 
every  home  where  they  are  rightly  selected  and 
rightly  read !  I  have  a  few  choice  volumes  on 
my  shelves,  among  them  an  Olivet  Cicero  and  a 
folio  Shakespeare  ;  but  I  would  save  my  news- 
paper scrap-books  before  either  of  them.  I  have 
no  volumes  that  contain  so  much  sound  thought, 
good  English,  good  sense,  and  important  knowl- 
edge. If  you  ask  for  wit,  I  will  agree  to  match 
every  jest  and  sarcasm  in  "  The  School  for  Scan- 
dal" with  something  from  my  scrap-book  quite 
as  good  in  the  way  of  epigram,  and  flashed  upon 
some  mischief  which  it  is  important  should  be 
seen.     Here  are  full  reports  of  lectures  on  his- 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING.  123 

tory  by  Hedge,  poetry  by  Lowell,  science  by 
Agassiz  and  Tyndall.  Here  are  Mill's  speeches 
in  parliament,  his  free-trade  letters  to  New- 
York  admirers,  and  Mr.  Greeley's  reply  to  them. 
You  will  find  copious  extracts  giving  the  heart 
of  the  best  modern  books,  and  intelligent  sum- 
maries of  the  systems  they  advocate.  Here  are 
occasional  sermons  into  which  leading  American 
divines  have  put  their  most  earnest  thought; 
here  are  vigorous  expressions  of  the  best  politi- 
cal intelligence  clipped  from  the  leaders  of  the 
best  newspapers ;  and,  quite  as  important,  here 
are  little  crisp  criticisms  of  blundering  political 
work  from  indignant  citizens  whose  daily  duty 
has  brouecht  them  face  to  face  with  absurdities 
of  legislation.  Take  the  best  newspapers  by  all 
means,  —  as  many  of  them  as  you  can  afford,  — 
and  then  take  nine-tenths  of  their  reading-mat- 
ter for  granted.  Some  of  it  is  good  for  nobody; 
much  of  it  is  good  for  somebody :  but  only  a 
small  part  is  wanted  by  you.  But  how  precious 
are  these  fragments,  if  wisely  chosen !  If  you 
are  interested  in  the  investigation  of  any  politi- 


124  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

cal  subject,  —  and  every  American  citizen  should 
have  some  study  of  this  sort,  —  you  will  find  in 
almost  every  newspaper  an  illustration  of  some 
aspect  of  it.  Remember  that  it  is  better  to 
subscribe  to  a  few  first-class  newspapers,  that 
you  may  read  at  home  with  the  scissors  in  your 
hand,  than  to  glance  over  a  score  of  them  in  a 
public  reading-room.  Almost  every  thing  that 
it  is  good  and  useful  to  know  gets  said  or  copied 
or  suggested  in  some  column  of  our  free  pi'ess. 
Venerable  absurdities  are  exposed  by  thinkers 
of  acknowledged  ability,  and  institutions  worth 
preserving  are  defended  against  the  assaults  of 
the  foolish.  But,  if  newspapers  may  be  put  to 
noblest  uses,  they  may  be  so  used  as  to  enervate, 
and  even  to  demoralize.  Let  us  love  them 
wisely,  but  not  too  well. 

If  the  danger  here  hinted  at  be  admitted,  it  is 
not  easy  to  point  out  the  remedy.  We  must 
make  a  compromise  between  the  demands  of  an 
existing  state  of  things  and  the  ideal  conditions 
of  Utopia.  It  would  be  absurd  to  lay  down  any 
rule  as  of  universal  application.     Our  powers 


THE  ABUSE   OF  READING.  125 

of  acquiring  facts,  of  incorporating  them  with 
our  individual  culture,  and  of  using  them  for 
symmetrical  growth,  are  as  different  as  our 
powers  of  physical  endurance.  Each  one  of  us 
must  find  the  law  of  his  own  constitution,  and 
obey  it.  To  discourage  the  present  demand  for 
free  reading  would  be  as  foolish  as  to  oppose  the 
cheapening  of  food  because  the  doctors  tell  us 
that  nine  people  out  of  every  ten  eat  more  than 
is  good  for  them.  But  let  us  be  careful,  that, 
while  we  express  a  reasonable  gratification  that 
our  people  are  obtaining  free  access  to  books, 
we  do  not  seem  to  proclaim  a  false  principle. 
Profitable  reading  has  always  demanded  posi- 
tive mental  effort ;  and,  in  these  days,  it  also 
requires  the  sternest  self-control.  It  is  possible 
that  our  constantly  multiplying  libraries  may 
keep  the  word  of  promise  to  the  eye,  to  break  it 
to  the  hope ;  for  a  maximum  of  ease  in  obtain- 
ing even  good  authors  does  not  necessarily 
secure  a  maximum  of  utility  for  their  works. 

We  are  not  only  committed  to  free  education, 
but,  as  it  now  seems,  to  free  reading.     Let  us 


126  THE  ABUSE   OF  READING. 

fight  it  out  bravely  on  that  line.  Only  let  us 
remember  that  collective  society  can  give  no 
one  a  privilege  without  creating  an  obligation. 
In  the  town  library,  there  is  committed  to  our 
care  what  should  be  the  most  beneficent  institu- 
tion yet  born  into  the  world.  It  is  for  us  of 
the  present  generation  to  establish  its  traditions. 
This  great  responsibility  cannot  be  avoided. 
Let  those  in  authority  provide  what  securities 
they  may  against  the  excessive  application  of  a 
good  principle.  Let  the  wise  citizen  also,  both 
by  examjile  and  counsel,  protest  against  its  per- 
version to  evil. 


THE  BETTER   SAMARITAN. 


A  S  it  is  possible  that  some  good  persons 
have  not  made  up  their  minds  concerning 
the  expediency  of  putting  satire  into  sermons,  I 
will  not  "  injure  my  influence,"  as  the  phrase 
used  to  run,  by  defending  its  propriety.  There 
is,  however,  no  peril  in  venturing  upon  the 
assertion,  that,  if  sarcasm  is  to  be  admitted  to 
the  pulpit,  a  discourse  by  Rev.  George  L. 
Chaney,  entitled  "  A  Defence  of  Ananias,"  is  a 
capital  example  of  the  effective  employment  of 
that  keenest  weapon.  After  reading  the  ex- 
cuses for  the  conduct  of  this  much-maligned 
member  of  the  early  church  (and  the  argument 
which  the  gifted  metropolitan  divine  brought 
forward  in  his  behalf  was  plausible  enough  to 
satisfy  anybody  but  a  very  bigoted  Christian),  I 
said  to  myself,  "  Here  is  at  last  a  clergyman 
competent  to  preach  that  sermon  upon  the  Bet- 


128  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

ter  Samaritan,  for  which  the  world  has  so  long 
waited."  It  was  not  to  be  doubted  that  the 
liberal  author  of  the  Plea  for  Ananias  would  be 
able  to  show  that  the  petty  and  insipid  virtue 
of  assisting  a  distressed  traveller  on  the  road 
between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  had  been  egre- 
giously  over-estimated.  It  may  well  be  ques- 
tioned whether  the  familiar  parable  —  founded, 
as  some  have  liked  to  believe,  upon  a  real  inci- 
dent—  deserves  the  high  place  in  ethical  teach- 
ing which  has  commonly  been  assigned  to  it. 
After  all,  the  Samaritan's  deed  was  but  a  cheap 
assistance  to  one  unlucky  traveller  that  chance 
threw  in  his  way.  His  wine  and  oil  could  not 
have  cost  much ;  and,  if  you  talk  of  the  misera- 
ble twopence  which  he  paid  at  the  inn,  some  of 
us  who  have  just  set  down  our  fifty  dollars  upon 
a  fashionable  subscription-paper  (which  it  really 
would  not  do  to  decline)  may  be  permitted  to 
toss  our  heads  a  little  over  the  old-fashioned 
narrative. 

Those  of  my  readers  who  are  in  the  habit  of 
paying  a  Sunday  visit  to  a  certain  select  ceme- 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  129 

tery  in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  our  American 
cities  have  often  paused  in  admiration  before 
the  costly  monument  to  old  Demas,  which  is  its 
principal  attraction.  They  will  all  remember 
the  beautiful  bronze  bas-relief,  representing  the 
Good  Samaritan,  which  has  been  set  in  the  mar- 
ble that  recounts  the  virtues  of  his  more  worthy 
successor.  It  is  evident  that  this  bit  of  cun- 
ningly-wrought metal  was  designed  to  furnish 
the  text  to  that  sermon  in  stone  which  the 
quarry-man  and  the  sculptor  were  hired  to 
preach.  It  seems  to  say,  "  If  you  designate 
this  scriptural  personage  by  his  familiar  adjec- 
tive, logic  will  require  you  to  use  its  compara- 
tive degree  in  paying  homage  to  the  Better 
Samaritan,  in  whose  glory  this  shaft  is  reared." 
It  would  surely  not  be  difficult  for  the  ingenious 
divine,  who  succeeded  so  wonderfully  in  the 
case  of  Ananias,  to  adapt  the  somewhat  hack- 
neyed parable  to  the  requirements  of  this  later 
claimant  for  the  regard  of  good  men. 

"  Our  beloved  Demas,  my  brethren  "  Cfor  in 

some    such  way   the    memorial    sermon    might 
I  G* 


130  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

run),  "our  beloved  and  sagacious  Demas,  knew 
too  much  to  trouble  himself  with  any  retail  dis- 
tribution of  charity,  which  would  have  required 
his  personal  attention,  and  the  use  of  his  pri- 
vate beast  of  burden.  He  knew  that  '  that  sort 
of  business,'  to  borrow  his  own  incisive  lan- 
guage, '  was  pretty  well  played  out.'  But,  if 
he  seemed  to  neglect  the  teachings  of  the  para- 
ble I  have  read  to  you,  it  was  only  because  he 
had  hit  upon  a  comprehensive  method  of  im- 
proving its  obsolete  instructions.  If  he  was 
known  upon  the  street  as  a  rapacious  old  miser, 
quick  to  take  advantage  of  his  brothers'  neces- 
sities, it  was  because  he  meant  to  show  such 
kindness  to  our  sect  of  True  Zionites  as  would 
full}^  justify  far  less  venial  transgressions.  For, 
if  it  were  necessary  for  me  to  show  that  our 
departed  patron  of  blessed  memory  inherited  no 
taint  from  that  ancestral  Demas  whom  the  apos- 
tle accuses  of  deserting  him  '  through  love  of 
this  present  world,'  I  need  only  to  point  to  that 
large  sum  of  money  he  hath  left  to  build  a 
True  Zion  chapel,  which  shall  always  be  called 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  131 

by  his  honored  name.  Consider,  too,  if  he  hatli 
not  wrought  better  than  that  second  Demas, 
concerning  whom  '  The  Pilgrim's  Progress ' 
finds  something  to  tell  us.  You  will  remember 
that  the  dreaming  tinker  (who  saw  more  clearly 
than  many  people  who  think  tliey  are  awake) 
found  this  Demas,  junior,  comfortably  estab- 
lished as  proprietor  of  a  silver  mine,  Avherein  he 
invites  Messrs.  By-Ends  and  Hold-the-World 
'  to  do  some  digging  for  treasure.'  Alas  that 
the  damps  of  that  mine  should  have  proved  so 
unwholesome  to  pilgrims  as  to  lessen  the  profits 
of  the  enterprising  owner,  upon  whom  Banyan 
is  careful  to  bestow  the  epithet  '  gentleman- 
like ' !  And  how  well  is  it  for  the  sacred  causes 
of  religion  and  charity  that  our  Demas  found 
means  of  working  this  same  silver  mine  throuixh 
paper  certificates  of  stock,  by  the  manipulating 
of  which  he  was  able  to  make  much  more  money, 
and  also  avoid  the  subterranean  miasmas  which 
in  Bunyan's  time  were  reckoned  so  perilous. 
But  I  must  hasten  to  relate  the  peculiar  incident 
which   will    measure,   after    approved    modern 


132  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

standards,  the  superiority  of  this  our  Better 
Samaritan  to  his  scriptural  prototype.  One  day, 
as  Demas  was  driving  from  his  elegant  country- 
seat  to  the  city,  urging  his  bays  lest  he  should 
be  late  upon  Change,  he  saw  a  wounded 
traveller  lying  by  the  way  side.  Of  course,  no 
proper  person  could  have  expected  him  to  stop, 
and  stain  the  satin  cushions  of  his  phaeton* 
with  the  dirt  and  blood  of  this  unhappy  way- 
farer. That  sort  of  conduct  might  have  done 
well  enough  for  the  old-fashioned  Samaritan. 
But  we  have  long  abandoned  his  style  of 
doing  business,  and,  as  you  will  see  in  the 
sequel,  found  out  a  more  excellent  way  to 
win  the  praise  of  the  churches  as  great  philan- 
thropists. And  so,  as  an  important  operation 
in  stocks  was  contemplated  that  very  morn- 
ing, our  Better  Samaritan  felt  obliged  to 
hurry  on  to  the  business  quarter  of  the  city, 
where  he  arrived  soon  after  the  Priest  and 
the  Levite,  who  happened  to  have  pressing 
engagements  in  the  same  locality.  Of  course, 
our  worthy  benefactor   did   not  wholly  escape 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  133 

the  shafts  of  envy.  Certain  small-minded  per- 
sons professed  to  disapprove  the  methods  by 
which  he  rolled  up  his  riches.  They  noted 
the  fact,  that,  while  Demas  was  constantly 
recommending  the  stocks  of  his  silver  mine 
to  small  investors,  he  happened  to  have  none 
of  them  on  liis  hands  when  the  panic  came 
which  rendered  them  valueless.  The  little 
incident  of  the  wounded  traveller  was  also 
made  the  occasion  for  some  disrespectful  com- 
ments by  those  who  had  a  liking  for  that  petty 
form  of  charity  which  goes  out  from  the  per- 
son, rather  than  from  the  purse.  But  these 
cavillers  were  put  to  shame  wlien  our  Better 
Samaritan  —  being  near  his  end,  and  naturally 
desirous  of  laying  up  treasure  to  be  enjoyed 
in  the  next  world  —  bequeathed  the  bulk  of 
his  property  to  found  the  Demas  Institute  for 
Distressed  Travellers ;  making  his  friend,  the 
Levite,  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and 
his  minister,  the  Priest,  chaplain  for'  life,  with 
the  right  to  appoint  his  successor.  And  what 
a  world  of  good  the  Demas  Institute  is  destined 


4 

134  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

to  do,  besides  providing  comfortable  berths 
for  the  True  Zion  professors  who  are  appointed 
to  administer  it !  At  first,  j'ou  remember,  it 
was  rather  difficult  to  find  distressed  travellers 
to  be  relieved ;  but,  by  persistent  advertis- 
ing, an  abundant  supply  of  them  has  at  length 
been  obtained.  As  testimony  to  the  wonder- 
ful work  which  the  Institute  is  accomplishing, 
I  need  only  quote  at  random  from  its  Annual 
Report :  '  Case  64.  —  Thomas  Jones,  driving 
his  cart  to  market,  lost  a  wheel.  New  wheel  with 
patent  axle  supijlied  hy  the  Institute.  Offered 
to  paint  his  cart  if  he  would  become  a  True  Zion- 
ite.  Off^er  accepted.'  '  Case  343.  Patrick  Fo- 
ley, after  selling  his  cabbages,  stopped  at  too 
many  taverns  on  his  way  home,  and  finally  fell 
off  his  cart,  and  was  robbed  on  the  highway.  The 
Institute  made  up  the  amount  of  money  he  had 
lost,  and  gave  him  fifty  tracts  to  distribute  among 
his  neighbors.'  But  I  need  not  multiply  exam- 
ples of  a  beneficence  which  will  endure  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  extend  our  True 
Zion  creed  by  furnishing  a  haven  of  rest  for  an 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  135 

ever-increasing  number  of  its  professors.  And 
it  behooveth  us  especially  to  rejoice  that  the 
heavy  taxes,  which  tliis  great  Demas  estate 
was  forced  to  pay  during  the  pilgrimage  of 
its  late  possessor,  are  remitted  to  the  saints 
who  have  fallen  heirs  to  its  fatness.  Well 
may  we  celebrate  from  pulpit  and  press  the 
merits  of  our  wealthy  benefactor !  This  Better 
Samaritan's  money  —  annually  increased  by 
beneficent  legislation— seems  likely  to  relieve 
thousands  of  distressed  travellers,  where  the 
Good  Samaritan  gave  his  personal  attention 
to  the  assistance  of  one.  We  may  well  hold 
up  our  departed  brother  as  an  example  for  the 
imitation  of  youth,  and  appropriate  for  his  noble 
deed  the  long-misapplied  precept,  '  Gio  thou  and 

I 

do  likewise.^  " 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  eulo2:ium  of 
Demas,  in  the  hands  of  the  preacher  of  the 
Ananias  sermon,  would  be  given  with  a  deli- 
cacy and  plausibility  of  M'hich  my  rough  notes 
can  furnish  no  indication.  Tlie  traits  that  I 
have  magnified  by  exaggeration,  in  order  that 


136  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

they  might  be  clearly  seen,  would  have  no 
undue  prominence  above  that  safe  level  of 
panegyric  which  would  appear  to  give  the  result 
of  countless  hasty  opinions.  So  ingeniously 
would  the  whole  matter  be  managed,  that  many 
of  the  congregation  would  be  confused  and 
startled  when  the  preacher  should  come  to 
that  division  of  his  discourse  where  he  must 
abruptly  announce  that  hitherto  he  had  been 
speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  and  very 
foolish  men  too ;  and  that  he  scorned  the 
sophistry  he  had  permitted  himself  to  utter. 
Our  Better  Samaritan  would  then  receive  the 
uncompromising  exposure  that  such  shams  de- 
serve. It  would  be  shown  how  the  community, 
which  he  pretended  to  benefit  with  his  absurd 
institution,  was  far  worse  off  than  if  no  Demas 
had  glorified  himself  at  its  expense.  Only  the 
most  arbitrary  and  one-sided  collection  of  facts 
could  give  the  Institute  the  appearance  of 
utility  that  had  been  claimed  for  it.  There 
was  a  set  of  stolid  officials,  supported  by  a 
tax-exempted   fund,    and    placed    under   heavy 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  137 

bonds,  to  fetter  a  generation  to  a  creed  which 
it  might  be  struggling  to  discard  for  better 
representations  of  truth.  The  charitable  work 
of  the  institution  was  a  specious  humbug.  It 
created  the  class  of  persons  who  were  nominally 
benefited.  The  fact  that  its  agents  were  at 
hand  to  relieve  disabled  travellers  caused  the 
farmers  and  stable-men  to  grow  careless  about 
their  wheels  and  harnesses.  The  highways 
leading  to  the  city  were  deplorably  neglected  ; 
for  travellers  found  it  less  troublesome  to  be- 
come beneficiaries  of  the  Demas  fund  than  to 
prosecute  the  towns  through  which  the  roads 
passed.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  given 
amount  of  money  could  have  been  used  to 
worse  purpose.  Bribes  were  offered  for  shift- 
lessness,  and,  as  it  might  turn  out,  for  hy- 
pocrisy. Not  content  with  demoralizing  the 
time  in  which  he  lived,  this  much-bepraised 
stockmonger  placed  obstructions  in  the  way 
of  realizing  those  better  social  conditions  in 
the  future  for  which  good  men  are  laboring. 
But  the    pomp   of    machine-made    charity,   be 


138  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

it  never  so  mucli  eulogized  by  hasty  talkers, 
can  furnish  no  lasting  opiate  for  a  sinner's 
conscience.  I  like  to  think  how  the  minister's 
voice  "would  ring  through  the  meeting-house 
as  he  would  assure  his  flock  that  modern 
improvements  in  the  work  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan cannot  be  considered  lawful  substitutes ; 
and  that  to  measure  charity  by  the  institution 
is  as  preposterous  as  to  measure  grace  by  the 
cord,  or  penitence  by  the  bushel. 

It  will  seem  to  savor  of  temerity  in  a  lay- 
man to  adumbrate,  in  this  hazy  fashion,  the 
discourse  that  might  be  preached  from  the 
text  furnished  by  this  famous  monument. 
Those  who  would  judge  how  luminously  the 
subject  could  be  displayed  by  one  expert  in 
sacred  oratory  are  referred  to  the  sermon  upon 
Ananias,  already  mentioned  as  having  sug- 
gested its  full  capabilities.  Look  it  up  among 
the  back  numbers  of  the  "  Christian  Register," 
and  3'ou  will  agree  with  me  that  it  were  worth 
while  to  assist  at  the  rhetorical  inflation  of 
this     exceedingly    commonplace    Croesus,    and 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  139 

afterwards  to  witness  the  skilful  punctures  by 
which  the  gas  would  be  let  out  of  him,  in 
order  that  what  remained  might  be  held  up 
as  a  warning  before  the  world. 

Thank  Heaven,  we  have  all  met  some  Samari- 
tans of  the  good  old  school !  —  men  who  miglit 
have  died  rich,  and  afflicted  us  with  institu- 
tions, had  they  not  distributed  their  wealth 
in  unrecorded  ways  as  they  journeyed  on. 
They  never  enjoyed  the  prestige  of  being 
millionnaires,  and  made  no  bids  for  the  unctu- 
ous eulogiums  of  pious  ignorance  ;  but,  in  their 
day  and  generation,  they  created  force.  Vainly 
the  physicist  may  ol)ject,  that  no  man  can 
create  force,  but  only  change  its  direction. 
I  am  not  speaking  of  the  force  which  moves 
matter,  but  of  that  which  sways  mind ;  and 
it  is  an  allowable  figure  of  speech  to  say  that 
this  force  is  created,  or,  if  you  like,  brought 
down  into  this  lower  world,  by  the  intelligent 
self-sacrifice  of  man. 

Let  me  add  a  few  paragraphs  which  may 
suggest     additional    matter    for    this     sermon, 


140  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

whenever   some   good    minister   of    the    Broad 
Church  shall  be  moved  to  preach  it. 

To  seem  charitable  is  about  the  easiest  sort 
of  imposture  that  a  knave  can  undertake.  To 
be  charitable  is  the  most  difficult,  as  it  is  the 
worthiest,  task  that  a  saint  can  set  himself. 
But,  if  our  average  saint  would  attempt  his 
charity  by  large  and  conspicuous  methods,  I 
fear  that  he  must  somewhat  abridge  his  devo- 
tions in  order  to  devote  more  of  his  time  to 
patient  thinking  and  exact  research.  "  Not 
one  man  in  a  million,"  exclaims  Mr.  Parton, 
"  knows  how  to  give  away  a  million  of  dol- 
lars so  that  it  will  not  do  more  harm  than  good." 
At  first,  we  may  be  startled  at  the  exaggera- 
tion of  such  a  dictum ;  but,  the  farther  we 
penetrate  into  the  depth  and  complexity  of 
the  subject,  the  nearer  it  approximates  the 
truth.  We  can  see  a  few  facts  smiling  sweetly 
upon  the  surface  ;  but  there  are  a  thousand 
awkward  facts  beneath  the  surface  whose  na- 
ture we  must  infer.  How  solemn  is  our  warn- 
ing from  that  mass  of  pauperism  which  afflicts 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  141 

Eno-land,  and  which  has  been  shown  to  be 
so  Largely  the  product  of  a  hasty  and  spurions 
philanthropy !  Mr.  Thomas  Beggs  has  pub- 
lished a  striking  paper,  confirming  by  facts 
and  figures  the  conclusions  of  the  best  stu- 
dents of  social  science.  He  claims  that  an 
enormous  sum  annually  spent  in  charity  in 
London  increases  the  distress  it  pretends  to 
relieve.  Mr.  W.  R.  Greg  scarcely  exaggerates 
the  belief  of  many  thoughtful  Englishmen 
when  he  writes,  "  The  form  which  charity 
has  a  tendency  to  assume  in  societies,  so  com- 
plicated as  all  civilized  societies  are  growing 
now,  is  such  as  to  drain  the  practice  of  nearly 
all  its  incidental  good.  .  .  .  Charitable  endow- 
ments and  bequests  are  ingenious  contrivances 
for  diffusing  the  most  wide-spread  pauperism." 
Mr.  Mill's  jealousy  of  State  interference,  and 
sense  of  the  importance  of  allowing  the  widest 
range  to  individual  peculiarities,  seem  at  one 
time  to  have  inclined  him  to  views  not  unfavor- 
able to  the  mass  of  British  endowments.  His 
latest  words  upon   this  subject   have  therefore 


142  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

all  the  weight,  of  admissions  wrung  from  a 
most  unwilling  witness :  "  Of  all  the  abuses 
and  malversations  in  the  management  of  pub- 
lic matters  in  this  country,  the  abuses  of  endow- 
ments are  most  flagrant.  It  begins  to  be  felt 
that  the  whole  of  them  ought  to  be  taken  in 
hand  by  the  nation,  and  thoroughly  reformed : 
and  a  thorough  reform  in  most  cases  means 
that  their  lands  should  either  be  managed  for 
them  by  the  State,  or  taken  away  altogether ; 
such  of  them  as  are  fit  to  be  continued  receiv- 
ing money  endowments  instead.  If  this  were 
done,  a  great  extent  of  landed  possessions 
would  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  nation  ;  and, 
with  all  the  defects  of  State  management, 
management  by  endowed  institutions  is  gener- 
ally so  much  worse,  that  even  after  giving 
them  full  compensation,  to  which  many  of 
them  are  by  no  means  entitled,  a  considerable 
surplus  would  probably  be  'realized  by  the 
State.  Much  of  this  is  town  property  ;  and 
a  distinguished  member  of  this  association, 
who  knows  the  subject  officially,  can  tell  you 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  143 

that  one  may  walk  for  several  miles  across  Lon- 
don without  once  taking  his  foot  off  the  prop- 
erty of  some  endowed  institution.  I  have  seen 
it  estimated  that  a  fifth  part  of  London  belongs 
to  them." 

Without  implying  that  no  more  institutions 
should  be  founded,  it  may  be  safely  asserted, 
that,  the  wiser  a  man  is,  the  more  cautious 
he  will  be  in  assuming  the  great  responsibility 
of  their  creation.  Doubtless  there  are  ways 
in  which  I'ich  men  may  harmlessly,  and  even 
worthily,  perpetuate  names ;  but  they  must 
be  taught  what  care  is  to  be  exercised,  if  this 
is  to  be  innocently  done.  Endowments,  place 
them  where  you  will,  produce  indirect  effects 
that  were  never  looked  for.  Certainly  Mr. 
Astor's  gift  of  a  free  library  to  the  city  of 
New  York  would  appear  to  be  a  form  of 
charity  that  could  give  nothing  but  good 
results ;  and  yet  a  leading  journal  of  that 
city  has  undertaken  to  show  that  this  noble 
bequest,  by  reason  of  restrictions  whose  effect 
the  donor  could  not  have  foreseen,  has  injured 


144  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

the  literary  resources  of  New  York,  and  driven 
scholars  to  Boston  to  obtain  books  which  a 
free  metropolitan  library  would  otherwise  have 
supplied.  I  am  far  from  asserting  that  this 
opinion  is  correct ;  but  the  fact  that  responsible 
persons  have  adopted  it  is  worthy  of  notice. 
Endowments  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the 
higher  education  would  seem  to  be  among  the 
surest  means  of  bestowing  posthumous  benefits 
upon  the  community ;  but,  to  insure  this,  the 
property  must  be  left,  free  of  restrictions,  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  successive  generations 
who  are  to  use  it.  President  Porter  assures  us 
that  the  tens  of  millions  of  dollars  bequeathed 
by  rich  men  to  found  superfluous  colleges 
and  pretended  universities  have  been  wasted, 
a}id  worse  than  wasted.  And  the  judgment 
of  this  eminent  gentleman  has  been  indorsed 
by  many  of  our  most  competent  educators. 
The  "  New-York  Nation  "  —  whose  opinion  in 
matters  connected  with  the  hioher  education  is 
deservedly  respected  —  warns  us  that  "  the  num- 
ber of  these  ill-advised  and  somewhat  eccentric 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  145 

testators  increases  every  j^ear  ;  "  and  that  "  we 
are  tln-eatened  with  the  spectacle,  during  the 
coming  century,  of  the  greatest  waste  of  money 
by  well-meaning  persons  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen."  When,  therefore,  the  average  mil- 
lionnaire  is  debating,  after  Pope's  well-known 
alternative,  whether  to  "  endow  a  college  or  a 
cat,"  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  he  should 
not  be  encouraged  to  select  tlie  cat,  who  will 
in  time  live  out  her  nine  lives,  and  restore  the 
property  to  the  natural  uses  of  the  community. 
The  demoralizing  sequences,  in  one  case,  Avould 
soon  come  to  an  end  :  in  the  other,  they  might 
extend  over  centuries. 

There  is  sometimes  a  fallacious  way  of  esti- 
mating the  utilit}^  of  an  endowment  for  educa- 
tion, which  it  may  be  well  to  notice.  Sydney 
Smith  tells  us  that  colleges  take  to  themselves 
credit  for  all  the  intellect  which  they  do  not 
succeed  in  paralyzing.  And  it  is  certain  that 
other  endowed  institutions  of  learninor  have 
been  gifted  with  similar  powers  of  appropria- 
tion. Doubtless  the  sectarian  school  that  Brown 
J  7 


146  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

founded  a  century  ago  can  show  a  list  of  emi- 
nent jurists,  authors,  and  divines,  whom  it 
chiims  to  have  educated.  But,  born  into  an 
intelHgent  community,  these  gifted  men  would 
have  found  education  somewhere  ;  and  it  is  at 
least  conceivable  that  the  education  might  have 
been  better  adapted  to  their  needs  had  it  been 
controlled  by  the  ideas  of  a  living  generation, 
instead  of  those  of  the  dead  Mr.  Brown.  It 
may  have  happened  that  some  of  these  gifted 
men  were  neither  religious  men,  nor  even  moral 
men,  just  because  religion  and  morality  were 
presented  to  them  all  twisted  up  with  Brown's 
scheme  of  theology,  which  they  found  repulsive 
to  reason  and  conscience. 

Not  long  ago  I  received  a  letter  requesting 
me  to  unite  with  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
men  in  the  community  in  bringing  the  name  of 
an  able  and  successful  teacher  before  the  trus- 
tees of  a  certain  endowed  seminary  for  the 
instruction  of  youth.  A  prominent  position  in 
the  institution  was  to  be  filled ;  and  jjrofessors 
and  divines  who  were  interested  in   educa  ion 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  147 

voluntarily  came  forward  to  express  the  hope 
that  the  claims  of  a  certain  gentleman  might  be 
considered.  They  offered  abundant  testimony 
to  the  excellence  of  his  scholarship,  the  purity 
of  his  character,  and  the  power  of  his  moral 
influence  as  an  educator.  He  was  known  to  be 
a  church  attendant  and  a  supporter  of  Christian 
institutions.  I  sought  an  interview  with  the 
chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees,  only  to  be 
told,  with  all  courtesy,  that  he  was  unable  to 
give  any  consideration  to  the  strongly  attested 
claims  of  the  gentleman  in  question.  He  kindly 
explained  to  me  his  views  of  his  duty  as  the 
sworn  administrator  of  a  certain  trust ;  and  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  they  were  correct. 
And  this  was  the  saddest  feature  of  the  Avhole 
matter.  The  gentleman,  whose  peculiar  fitness 
for  the  position  was  urged  by  the  best  men  of 
his  da}',  had  one  fatal  defect.  He  could  not 
declare  his  belief  that  certain  doctrines  were 
taught  in  the  Scriptures.  Upon  this  point  he 
shared  the  doubts,  not  only  of  many  religious 
and  learned   laymen,   but  of  studious   divines 


148  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

whom  the  world  calls  theologians.  "  If  every 
dacat  m  the  six  thousand  ducats  that  j'ou  offer 
me  were  in  six  parts,  and  every  part  a  ducat," 
declares  Shylock,  "  I  will  not  take  them :  I  will 
have  my  jDound  of  Christian  flesh."  "  If  every 
testimonial  to  the  worth  of  your  candidate  were 
multiplied  by  six,  and  then  again  by  six  hun- 
dred," virtually  exclaims  the  deceased  founder, 
"  I  will  not  look  at  them :  I  will  have  my  pound 
of  dogmatic  theology."  Of  all  the  doleful 
sounds  from  the  tombs  to  which  the  hymn  chal- 
lenges our  attention,  there  can  be  few  more 
doleful  than  this. 

Need  it  be  suggested  how  endowments  made 
from  honorable  motives,  and  able  to  show  a 
record  of  apparent  utility,  may  become  grievous 
temptations  to  third-rate  men,  leading  them  to 
sophisticate  with  their  intellects  for  the  sake  of 
holding  places  of  profit  and  influence  to  which 
they  have  no  just  title  ?  I  have  no  word  to  say 
against  creeds  and  tenets  and  articles,  when 
they  are  found  in  their  proper  places.  They  are 
to  be  respected  so  long  as  they  are  the    natural 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  149 

outcomes  of  the  thought  and  knowledo-e  of  liv- 
iiig  men.  Doubtless  he  does  well  who  assigns  a 
portion  of  his  annual  earnings  to  pay  the  cur- 
rent expenses  of  preaching  a  doctrine  which 
his  judgment  heartily  accepts.  In  that  case 
he  will  see  that  his  faith  is-  inculcated  by  men 
who  thoroughly  believe  it,  and  in  wliom  he 
thoroughly  trusts.  He  will  constitute  himself 
a  critic  to  see  that  his  money  is  economically 
used,  and  will  study  the  results  that  its  annual 
expenditure  produces.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
give  money  in  order  that  zeal,  which  burns 
brightly  in  living  hearts,  may  blaze  before  the 
world.  It  is  not  a  good  thing  to  leave  an 
income  which  may  soon  come  to  pay  luiscru- 
pulous  persons  for  simulating  zeal  for  dogmas 
that  have  lost  their  vitality.  The  spirit  of  man 
is  undergoing  a  developmejit  as  regular  as  that 
of  the  world  which  he  inhabits.  Our  systems 
and  beliefs  should  never  be  closed  against  the 
correction  of  a  new  experience.  The  good 
Puritan,  Robinson,  announced  a  fundamental 
principle  of  Democracy,  as  well  as  of  Protes- 


150  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

tantism,  when  he  said,  "  I  am  very  confident 
the  Lord  has  more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out 
of  his  Holy  Word."  Yes,  and  outside  of  his 
Holy  Word  too.  There  is  a  narrow  sphere  in 
which  it  is  our  right  and  duty  to  judge.  Let 
us  not  dare  to  exceed  it. 

While  this  writing  lies  wet  upon  my  desk,  I 
happen  to  take  up  a  newspaper,  and  find  a 
bitter  complaint  of  the  evil  wrought  by  a  sect 
M'hich  has  charQ;e  of  a  certain  endowed  school. 
These  religionists,  who  are  able  to  control  the 
vote  of  the  town,  are  represented  as  opposing 
a  thorough  svstem  of  graded  schools  in  order 
that  the  people  might  be  compelled  to  use  their 
sectarian  institution.  "  And  in  consequence," 
affirms  the  complainant,  "  the  common  schools 
are  crowded,  unclassified,  and  utterly  inadequate 
to  the  wants  of  the  phice."  The  name  of  the 
town  is  not  here  given,  because  I  have  no  means 
of  knowing  whether  the  charges  can  be  substan- 
tiated in  this  special  case  ;  but  it  is  evident 
that  such  results  are  not  unlikely  to  follow 
sectarian    endowments,   unless   they   are   made 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  151 

and  administered  with  far  more  than  average 
intelligence. 

I  met  a  chance  acquaintance  in  the  cars  the 
other  day  ;  and  we  happened  to  speak  of  Mr. 
Forrest's  posthumous  liberality,  which  is  to  pro- 
vide a  home  for  decayed  actors.  My  companion 
seemed  much  struck  with  the  idea,  and  remarked 
that  Christendom  was  sorely  in  need  of  houses 
of  refuge  for  reduced  clergjnnen.  He  suggested 
that  our  millionnaires,  without  more  ado,  should 
provide  a  plentiful  supply  of  these  institutions. 
I  ventured  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of  such  en- 
dowments ;  and  our  conversation  ran  some- 
thing like  this  :  — 

"  Then  I  suppose  3'^ou  do  not  believe  in  cler- 
gymen ?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  if  I  were  to  mention  the 
half-dozen  men  whose  services  our  community 
could  least  spare,  I  am  sure  that  three  of  the 
names  would  be  those  of  clergymen." 

"  Perhaps  you  think  that  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  reduced  clergymen  to  fill  such  institu- 
tions ?  " 


152  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

"  Far  from  it.  I  believe  that  if  j'ou  went 
through  the  alphabet,  founding  homes  for  all 
distressed  persons,  from  afflicted  apothecaries 
to  unlucky  undertakers,  there  would  not  be 
the  slightest  difficulty  in  filling  them.  In  some 
cases  you  might  have  to  wait  a  little  while,  till 
your  institution  had  time  to  create  its  supply. 
But,  so  far  as  clergymen  are  concerned,  even 
that  inconvenience  would  be  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. Why,  we  have  been  told  by  a  leading 
Presbyterian  journal,  that,  in  the  single  sect 
that  it  represents,  there  are  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred clergymen  educated  at  the  expense  of  chari- 
table co7itributions,  who  are  without  pulpits,  and 
disconnected  entirely  from  ministerial  work; 
and  this  estimate,  we  are  assured,  does  not 
include  editors,  teachers,  professors,  and  secre- 
taries of  various  religious  societies.  And  so, 
you  see,  the  fact  that  A  has  founded  an  insti- 
tution which  educates  superfluous  clergymen  is 
very  likely  to  cause  B  to  found  another  institu- 
tion to  provide  for  them.  And  our  neighbor 
the  legislator,  at  the  other  end  of  the  car,  will 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  163 

kindly  exempt  both  institutions  from  taxation; 
first  taxing  the  people  to  create  superfluous 
clergymen,  and  then  taxing  them  again  to  sup- 
port them  because  they  are  superfluous.  And 
ail  three  may  be  very  honest  persons,  who  tliink 
they  are  doing  right,  just  because  they  do  not 
think  much  about  it," 

As  an  arrival  at  the  station  put  a  sudden  stop 
to  our  talk,  I  here  add  a  few  words  in  modifica- 
tion of  a  doctrine  which  my  friend  may  have 
thought  harshly  stated:  —  It  is  right  for  you  or 
me  to  assist  a  minister  towards  whom  the  parish 
he  has  served  declines  to  fulfil  its  duty;  but  to 
advertise  such  assistance,  through  the  perpetual 
motion  of  an  institulion,  is  only  to  make  par- 
ishes more  unjust,  and  ministers  less  self-reliant. 
There  are  some  ministers  whose  want  of  success 
has  been  owing  to  the  narrowness  of  the  pews, 
and  not  that  of  the  pulpit.  It  is  well  to  con- 
sider if  we  cannot  give  them  a  hearing,  and  do 
something  for  them  in  an  unostentatious  way. 
And  let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  one  of  the 

most  productive  forms  that  sympathy  can  take 

7«- 


154  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

is  in  economizing  the  strength,  and  sparing  the 
nerves,  of  a  successful  mirihter.  I  now  use  the 
word  Italicized  in  no  professional  or  exclusive 
sense,  believing  that  the  Church  has  no  monop- 
oly of  these  rare  servants  of  humanity.  But  if 
your  clergyman  chances  to  be  one  of  them ;  if 
you  know  that  he  is  successful  in  forming  brave 
and  noble  characters  ;  if  you  see  that  he  is  a 
precious  nucleus  around  wliich  men  come  in 
contact  with  what  is  best  in  each  other, — be 
assured  that  any  aid  you  can  give  him  is  well 
bestowed.  You  may  add  twenty  years  to  his 
life  by  seeing  that  he  has  a  good  rest  in  the 
summer,  and  by  cushioning  off  the  petty  finan- 
cial perplexities  which  drain  the  costly  vitality 
he  should  give  the  world.  The  service-book 
surely  intimates  our  human  duty  in  its  solemn 
litany.  Let  us  remember  the  petition  which 
takes  precedence  of  the  prayer,  —  "  to  comfort 
and  help  the  weak-hearted."  "  To  strengthen 
such  as  do  stand  "  is  often  to  reach  the  weak- 
hearted,  who  require  comfort,  in  the  surest  way. 
Let    me    not   be    unjust   to   institutions   that 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  155 

run  upon  the  income  of  a  fund,  and  are  inde- 
pendent of  public  criticism.  Some  of  them 
have  their  uses ;  but  most  of  them  are  poor 
substitutes  for  individual  thought  applied  fresh 
and  living  to  the  problems  of  the  day.  Let 
us  remember  their  limits:  they  may  be  good 
instruments  of  charity,  but  bad  directors  of 
it.  If  we  Avish  to  avail  ourselves  of  their 
agency,  it  is  better  to  perfect  the  freest  and 
best  of  existing  institutions  than  to  found 
new  ones.  I  see  by  the  paper  that  an  emi- 
nent jurist  has  returned  his  fee  for  lectures 
in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  directed  that 
the  money  shall  be  expended  in  buying  books 
for  its  library.  In  the  same  journal  I  read 
that  a  well-known  pliysician  has  given  ten 
microscopes  to  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
to  be  loaned  to  students  who  are  unable  to 
buy  such  instruments.  Here  are  examples  of 
wise  and  useful  contributions  to  human  wel- 
fare. Gifts  to  institutions  of  learning,  by  men 
whose  daily  work  makes  them  competent  judges 
of    their    rec][uirements,    are    always   in    order. 


156  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

Existino;  endowments  for  advanced  education, 
when  untrammelled  by  theological  conditions, 
would  seem  to  be  among  the  best  claimants 
for  liberalit}'.  These  may  be  judiciously  in- 
creased by  those,  who,  having  examined  their 
past  and  present  work,  are  satisfied  that  tliey 
will  accept  the  knowledge  and  meet  require- 
ments of  the  future.  Beautiful  buildings  to 
contain  town  libraries  are  among  the  best  bene- 
factions of  these  latter  days :  they  are  gifts 
to  the  whole  people,  subject  only  to  the  re- 
strictions which  living  men  who  represent  them 
shall  from  time  to  time  impose ;  they  are 
properly  exempted  from  taxation,  and  will  keep 
the  names  of  their  donors  in  fragrant  remem- 
brance. 

But  the  best  charity  is  that  virtue  which 
insensibly  passes  out  from  a  good  man  as  he 
goes  about  hib  daily  business.  He  does  not 
undertake  to  do  other  people's  work  in  otlier 
generations  ;  but,  as  Mr.  Hale  writes  it,  ''  lends 
a  hand  "  in  his  own.  He  has  not  put  himself 
beyond    the    reach    of    the    beautiful    parable, 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  157 

whose  teaching  is  as  consonant  with  sound 
•olitical  economy  as  it  is  with  the  essential 
spirit  of  Cliristianity.  "  Doubly  efficacious," 
writes  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  "  are  all  assua- 
gings  of  distress  instigated  by  sympathy  ;  for 
not  only  do  they  remedy  the  particular  evils 
to  be  met,  but  they  help  to  mould  humanity 
into  a  form  by  which  such  evils  will  one  day 
be  precluded."  No  foolish,  ostentatious  alms- 
giving, demoralizing  alike  to  giver  and  receiver, 
is  the  lesson  of  the  story  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan. The  relief  is  not  yielded  to  clamorous 
importunity,  but  flows  from  an  honest  human 
emotion.  It  represents  a  form  of  "  utility " 
which  the  trained  intelligence  of  the  philoso- 
pher cannot  question.  Does  there  seem  to  be 
a  gain  in  phj^sical  power  when  we  attempt  to 
do  our  good  things  by  proxy  ?  There  is  too 
frequent!}^  a  loss  of  moral  power  that  will  more 
than  balance  it. 

Whenever  my  sermon  comes  to  be  preached 
by  a  real  minister  in  a  real  meeting-house, 
certain    questions   may   suggest   themselves    to 


158  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

the  pews  which  it  would  be  inexpedient  to 
touch  from  the  pulpit: — How  fur  is  it  riglit 
for  our  democratic  society  to  allow  the  acciden- 
tal possessors  of  its  wealth  to  impose  upon 
other  generations  their  special  theological  dog- 
mas or  their  crude  notions  of  mechanical 
charity?  Should  we  not  claim  for  our  chil- 
dren the  same  freedom,  which,  in  theory  at 
least,  we  are  never  tired  of  asking  for  our- 
selves ?  Let  it  be  granted  that  it  is,  on  the 
whole,  expedient  that  certain  living  men  should 
be  permitted,  through  their  property,  to  direct 
the  forces  of  the  community  to  an  extent 
absurdly  exceeding  their  merit.  Is  there  to 
be  no  end  to  it  ?  Are  legislators  bound  to 
respect  the  ideas  of  short-sighted  testators 
to  the  extent  to  which  they  are  respected 
in  America?  The  debt  which  every  success- 
ful man  owes  to  the  community  is  more  than 
a  figure  of  speech.  And,  if  it  be  a  good  debt, 
has  the  debtor  a  right  to  decree  his  own  legal 
tender  in  paying  it  ?  Should  ignorant  and 
selfish   persons,  or  even  well-meaning  persons, 


THE  BETTER   SAMARITAN.  159 

who  have  managed  to  scrape  np  riches,  be 
Ijermittcd  to  place  obstructions  in  the  way 
of  that  healthy  modification  «f  htiman  opin- 
ion which  an  advancing  society  must  constantl}^ 
demand  ?  Judicious  readers  will  perceive  that 
a  consideration  of  tliese  questions  is  bej'ond 
the  scope  of  this  present  paper.  I  have  taken 
care  to  shield  myself  behind  an  ample  prece- 
dent in  suggesting  that  satire  might  not  be 
out  of  place  in  a  sermon.  It  would  be  rash 
to  assume  that  political  meditations  should 
be  mingled  with  our  sabbath  instruction. 

That  well-known  Celtic  personage,  whose 
nationality  is  honored  by  the  prefix  of  the 
definite  article,  once  declared  that  he  had 
decided  to  do  nothing  for  posterity,  seeing 
that  no  evidence  was  forthcominsx  to  show 
that  posterity  had  ever  done  any  thing  for 
him.  Now,  if  "  the  Irishman  "  had  ever  heard 
of  Lord  Mansfiekrs'  advice  to  the  colonial  judge, 
and  had  followed  it  by  giving  his  decision 
without  announcing  his  reasons,  it  might  take 
more  than  an  average  chief  justice  to  pronounce 


160  THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN. 

a  sounder  judgment.  It  is  pleasant  to  think 
how  the  honest  fellow  shook  himself  clear  of 
a  begging  phantom,  and  went  about  his  daily 
work  in  his  healtliy  Irish  way.  I  am  sure 
that  his  subsequent  history  must  have  cor- 
responded with  that  of  many  of  his  worthy 
countrymen  whom  we  all  have  known.  To- 
tally disregarding  the  importunities  of  this 
very  necessitous  i)osterity,  our  good  Irishman 
uses  his  humble  gains  to  help  those  who  have 
only  the  chiims  of  living  men  and  women.  He 
denies  himself  the  comforts  that  his  labor  might 
purchase,  in  order  to  send  for  his  brothers 
and  sisters  in  the  old  land.  He  brings  to  his 
adopted  country  warm  hearts  and  willing  hands, 
—  the  healthy  women  and  sturdj--  men  whom 
we  want.  After  these  duties  are  discharged, 
he  still  denies  himself  in  order  to  invest  in 
a  bit  of  land  that  will  root  his  children  to  the 
soil,  and  give  the  best  guarantee  of  their  useful 
citizenship.  If  I  could  identify  "  the  Irish- 
man "'  with  a  humble  friend  of  mine,  I  should 
credit  him  with  fidelity  and  honor  that  might 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  161 

serve  as  ideal  types  of  those  not  too  common 
virtues.  Wherever  a  generous  fellowship  can 
smooth  life  a  little  for  his  kindred  and  neigh- 
bors, you  will  be  sure  to  find  him.  But,  alas  . 
this  brave  and  kindly  worker  has  done  nothing 
for  posterity ;  and,  when  at  last  he  appears 
before  the  Celestial  Gates,  it  would  take  the 
pen  of  John  Bunyan  to  depict  his  miserable 
discomfiture.  There  stands  tlie  poor  fellow, 
elbowed  aside  by  pompous  old  Demas,  wdio 
bears  a  cork  model  of  his  Institute  in  one  hand, 
and  a  photograph  of  his  monument  in  the  other. 
And  now  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  bewildered 
foreigner  regrets  his  saying  about  posterity,  to 
which  the  facetious  column  in  a  thousand 
American  newspapers  gave  such  wide  pub- 
licity. Where  are  his  obituaries,  his  funeral 
sermons,  his  "notices  of  the  press"?  —  testi- 
monials which  his  magnificent  competitor  so 
confidently  presents  for  the  inspection  of  St, 
Peter.  Ah,  well  1  I  like  to  believe  that  the 
astonislnnent  of  the  famous  Monsieur  Jourdain, 
when  informed  that  he  had  been  talking  prose 


162  THE  BETTER   SAMARITAN. 

all  his  life  Avithout  knowing  it,  has  its  counter- 
parts in  the  immaterial  world.  One  would  like 
to  see  the  smile  breaking  over  that  pleasant 
Irish  face  as  St.  Peter  assures  its  possessor,  that, 
despite  his  emphatic  determination,  he  had  de- 
voted his  life  to  the  service  of  posterity,  and 
this  in  the  only  certain  and  efficient  way. 
Vainly  the  astonished  Demas  points  to  his 
lying  epitaph,  and  to  the  Institute  which  his 
money  has  set  to  grinding  chaff  to  mock  a 
hungry  world.  His  masquerade  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Better  Samaritan  here  comes  to  an 
end.  The  saint  quotes  the  text  touching  the 
danger  of  being  wise  above  what  is  written, 
and  assures  him  that  no  one  who  undertakes 
to  be  any  better  than  the  Good  Samaritan  can 
pass  a  conservative  janitor  like  himself. 

It  is  time  that  these  random  suggestions 
were  brought  to  a  close.  Let  us  hope  that 
we  may  soon  hear  this  sermon  delivered  in 
full,  as  one  of  our  eloquent  divines  would  know 
how  to  do  it.  When  this  comes  to  pass,  you 
will    enjoy  it    all    the    more    from    having   pre- 


THE  BETTER  SAMARITAN.  163 

viously  studied  my  diy  lihretto.,  which  lacks 
all  the  splendors  of  rhetoric,  and  the  impressive- 
iiess  of  pulpit  pause  and  emphasis.  Perhaps 
some  one  will  say  that  it  is  not  respectful  to 
anticipate  the  teachings  of  the  sacred  desk. 
Have  we  not  all  enough  to  do  in  reducing 
to  practice  the  instructions  of  last  Sunday's 
discourse  ?  If,  indeed,  there  has  been  any 
profane  intrusion  among  solemn  mysteries,  an 
innocence  of  intention  must  be  humbly  pleaded. 

It 

Would  that  I  were  competent  to  dismiss  with 
the  usual  benediction  all  readers  who  will  lay 
to  heart  the  lesson  my  unpreached  sermon 
should  convey! 


Cambridge  :  Press  of  John  Wilson  &  Son. 


V 


ROBERTS  BROTHERS'  PUBLICATIONS. 


THE 

INTELLECTUAL    LIFE. 

By  PHILIP  GILBERT   HAMERTON, 

AUTHOR   OF 

«*A  Painter's  Camp,"   "Thoughts  About  Art,"  "The  Un- 
known River,"  "Chapters  on  Animals." 

Square  l2mo,  cloth,  gilt.     Price  $2.00. 

From  the  Christian  Uuion. 

"  In  many  respects  this  is  a  remark.ible  book,  —  the  last  and  best  production 
of  a  singularly  well  balanced  and  finely  cultured  mind.  Neman  whose  life  waa 
not  lifted  above  the  anxieties  of  a  bread-winniuc;  life  could  have  written  this  work ; 
which  is  steeped  in  that  sweetness  and  lisht,  the  virtues  of  which  Mr.  Arnold  so 
eloquently  preaches.      Compared  with   Mr.    Hamerton's  former  writings,   '  Th» 

Intellectual    Life'    is   incomparably  his  best   production But   above   all^ 

and  specially  as  critics,  are  we  charmed  with  the  large  impartiality  of  the  writer. 
Mr  Hamerton  is  one  of  those  peculiarly  fortunate  men  who  have  the  inclination 
and  means  to  live  an  ideal  life  P'rom  his  youth  he  has  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
of  culture  and  light,  moving  with  clipped  wings  in  a  charmed  circle  of  thought. 
Possessing  a  peculiarly  refined  and  delicate  nature,  a  passionate  love  of  beauty, 
and  purity  and  art ;  and  having  the  means  to  gratify  his  tastes,  Mr.  Hamerton 
has  held  himself  aloof  from  the  commonplace  routine  of  life  ;  and  by  constant 
study  of  books  and  nature  and  his  fellow  men,  has  so  purified  his  intellect  and 
tempered  his  judgment,  that  he  is  able  to  view  things  from  a  higher  platform  even 
than  more  able  men  whose  natures  have  been  soured,  cramped,  or  influenced  by 
the  necessities  of  a  laborious  existence.  Hence  the  rare  impartiality  of  his  deci- 
sions, the  catholicity  of  his  views,  and  the  symp.ithy  with  which  he  can  discuss 
the  most  irreconcilable  doctrines.  To  read  Mr.  Hamerton's  writings  is  an  intel- 
lectual lu.\ury.  Tliey  are  not  boisterously  strong,  or  excitir.g,  or  even  very  forci- 
ble;  but  they  are  instinct  with  the  finest  feeling,  the  broadest  sympathies,  and  a 
philosophic  calm  that  acts  like  an  opiate  on  the  unstrung  nerves  of  the  hard- 
wrought  literary  reader.  C.ilm,  equable,  and  beautiful,  'The  Intellectual  Life,' 
when  contrasted  with  the  sensational  and  half  digested  clap-trap  that  forms  so 
large  a  portion  of  contemporary  literature,  reminds  one  of  the  old  picture  of  the 
nuns,  moving  about,  calm  and  self-possessed,  through  the  fighting  and  blasplien*- 
ing  crowds  that  thronged  the  beleagured  city." 

"This  book  is  written  with  perfect  singleness  of  purpose  to  help  othen 
towards  an  intellectual  life,"  says  the  Boston  Daily  Ai/vertiser. 

"  It  is  eminently  a  book  of  counsel  and  instruction,"  says  the  Boston  Pest. 

"  A  b.)')k,  which   it  seems  to  us  will  take  a  permanent  place  in  literature, 
•ays  the  New  York  Daily  Mail. 


Sold  hy  all  Booksellers.      Mailed,  fostpaid,  by  the  Pub 
it'sicrs, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  Boston. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers''  Publications, 

A    PARAGRAPH    HISTORY 

OF   THE 

UNITED    STATES, 

From  the  Discovery  of  the  Continent  to  the 
Present  Time. 

By   EDWARD   ABBOTT. 

Price  50  cents. 


-♦- 


"  A  very  compact  and  complete  volume  of  eighty-six  pages,  filled  with 
information  in  regard  to  the  history  of  this  nation.  It  is  divided  into  the 
Periods  of  Aboriginal  Inhabitancy,  of  settlement  by  Europeans,  of  Colonial 
Growth,  of  the  Revolution,  of  National  Growth,  of  the  Slavery  Agita- 
tion, of  the  Rebellion,  and  of  the  "  New  Era  ""  in  which  we  are  now  living. 
All  important  events  are  recorded  here  in  a  very  handy  form  for  immediate 
reference,  with  the  dates  of  their  occurrence  and  with  marginal  notes  refer- 
ring to  contemporaneous  events  in  other  countries.  He  who  knows  perfectly 
as  much  of  history  as  this  little  volume  contains  may  be  considered  much 
better  informed  than  are  the  majority  of  American  citizens.  We  are  not 
surprised  that  it  is  winning  much  popularity."  —  Cambridge  Press. 

"  This  book  is  intended  for  those  who,  at  this  Centennial  period,  wish  to 
refresh  their  memories  as  to  some  of  the  more  important  facts  in  the  history 
of  the  country.  A  most  admirable  work  for  public  speakers  and  teachers." 
—  American  yottriial  of  Editcation. 

"  The  handiest  little  book  that  we  have  seen  for  many  a  day  is  '  Abbott's 
Paragraph  History  of  the  United  States.'  You  will  hardly  believe  us  when 
we  tell  you  that  here  is  the  History  of  the  United  States  compressed  within 
a  small  i6mo  volume  of  sixty-nine  pages,  and  yet  no  important  fact  or  date 
is  omitted.  Everybody  will  be  brushing  up  his  historical  lore  in  \-iew  of  the 
many  centennials  that  are  celebrating  this  year  or  that  will  be  celebrated  for 
the  next  seven  years,  and  will  want  just  such  a  pocket-history  to  carry  about 
with  him  for  this  purpose."  —  Home  and  School. 

» 

Sold  by  all  Booksellers.  Mailed,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of 
the  advertised  price,  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS, 

Boston. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers^  Publications. 

MEMOIRS  AND  CORRESPONDENCE 

OF 

Madame    Recamier. 

Translated  from   the   French  and   Edited    by    Isaphene 

m.   luyster. 

With  an  elegant  Steel  Engraved  Portrait.     One  volume. 
i6mo.     Price  $1. 50. 


From  the  Boston  Transcript. 

"  The  biography  of  a  woman  who  admirably  fulfilled  a  great  social  mission,  by 
virtue  not  so  much  of  intellectual  genius  or  personal  charms  as  by  the  essetitial 
ivoiiianhood  \\\\\c\\  she  conserved  and  consecrated.  It  is  idle  to  attribute  the  in- 
fluence she  exerted,  the  comfort  she  gave,  the  encouragement  she  inspired,  the 
rational  pleasure  and  progress  she  promoted,  to  mere  blandishments  or  dexterous 
coquetry.  Life-long  friendships  with  the  gifted  and  the  brave  are  not  so  realized  ; 
enduring  memories  <>f  grace  and  congeniality  are  not  so  bequeathed.  It  was  be- 
cause Madame  Recamier,  instead  of  being  hardened  by  wor.dliness,  or  soured  by 
baffl.;d  affection,  or  irritated  by  adversity,  lived  tlirough  her  best  womanly  in- 
stincts, kept  pure  and  vivid  her  highest  and  quickest  sympathies,  and  so  placed 
herself  in  true  relations  with  ife  and  literature,  with  genius  and  character,  that 
her  agency  was  so  benign,  her  jiresence  so  inspiring,  and  her  memory  so  dear." 
Jifrs.  Hale  in  Godey's  Lady's  Book 

"The  letters,  of  which  the  book  is  inainly  composed,  are  delightful  to  lovers 
of  detail.     Those  of  Chateaubriand  in  particular  are  almost  a  record  of  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life.     Those  who  would  see  the  influence  upon  great  men  of  a 
fascinating,  accomplished,  intellectual  woman,  will  find  it  in  these  letters." 
From  ilie  New  York  Evening  Post. 

"  Madame  Recamier  held  her  undisputed  and  marvellous  sway,  over  men  and 
women  alike,  by  her  exceeding  loveliness  of  person,  her  kindness  of  heart,  her 
good  sense  and  exquisite  tact,  —  a  sway  that  was  recognized  when  she  was  su.f  ^-r- 
ing  from  reverses  of  fortune,  as  well  as  when  she  was  enjoying  the  greatest  pros- 
perity Perhaps  no  biography  was  ever  written  in  which  thtre  are  anecdotes  and 
g  impses  of  so  many  and  such  widely  differing  characters  as  in  these  memo  is. 
O/ver  ng  a  period  of  more  than  half  a  century,  full  of  r.ipid  and  str.mge  chanie^', 
Madame  Ricam  er's  "  life"  has  a  historic  value,  and  the  letters  addressed  to  lier 
tike  us  behind  the  scenes  and  enable  us  to  understand  not  a  little  of  the  intrigues 
t'lat  governed  and  the  actors  who  took  part  in  the  political  struggles  of  France 
and  Europe.  The  chief  value  of  the  volume  will  be  found  in  its  autobiographical 
pjrtiuns  and  its  rich  and  diversified  correspondence." 


Sold' everywhere,  by  all  booksellers.     Mailed.,  post- 
paid., by  tJie  Publisiicrs., 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  Boston. 


Messrs.  Robe7'ts  Brothers^  Publications. 

"  By  one  of  the  Authors  of 

"ENGLISH    LESSONS    FOR   ENGLISH   PEOPLE." 

HOW    TO    WRITE    CLEARLY. 

Rules  and  Exercises  on  English  Composition. 

By  Rev.  Edwin   A.   Abbott,  M.A.,  Head  Master  of  the 

City  of  London  School.     i6mo.     Price  60  cents. 


"  Mr.  Abbott  is  careful  to  distincfuish  between  writing  clearly  and  think- 
ing clearly  ;  but  he  justly  emphasizes  the  fact  that  popular  speech  suffers  very 
largely,  in  many  instances,  from  the  persistent  but  ignorant  violation  of  a 
few  simple  rules.  If  we  could,  we  would  present  a  copy  of  this  admirable 
little  treatise  to  everybody  who  is,  or  expects  to  be,  a  contributor  to  the 
'Congregationalist.'  As  it  is,  we  advise  him  to  buy  it." —  The  Congrcga- 
tionalist. 

"  This  book  of  seventy-eight  pages  is  eminently  a  practical  one.  To  teach 
the  art  of  writing  clearly  is  the  object  of  these  rides  and  exercises.     The 

authority  is  one-  of  undoubted  ability  on  the  subject  of  which  he  treats ;  and 
our  public  instructors  would  do  well  to  examine  the  book,  with  the  view  to 
its  introduction  into  our  schools."—  Washington  Chronicle. 

"  The  knowledge  of  the  most  learned  men  would  avail  them  little  and  be 
of  little  service  to  mankind  unless  it  could  be  clearly  communxated  orally 
or  in  writing.  It  is  good  to  be  able  to  talk  well,  but  it  is  better  to  be  able 
to  write  well.  The  largest  and  the  most  appreciative  audience  nowadays  is 
reached  through  the  press.  To  write  correctly  has  become  a  necessity  of 
the  times.  Almost  every  boy  and  girl  can  be  taught  to  write  clearly,  so  far 
at  least  as  clearness  depends  upon  the  arrangement  of  words.  Force,  ele- 
gance, and  variety  of  style  are  more  difficult  to  teach,  and  far  more  difficult 
to  learn  ;  but  clear  writing  can  be  red^.ced  to  rules.  The  art  of  composition 
may  be  acquired  as  readily  as  any  other  subject  of  study  taught  in  our 
schools  ;  yet  it  is  a  sadly  neglected  branch  of  education  It  must  be  the 
fault  of  teachers  that  this  is  so  If  the  teacher  who  feels  that  he  may  justly 
cenune  himself  for  neglect  of  duty  in  this  regard  will  procure  some  good 
manual,  and  master  its  rules  and  exercises,  he  will  have  himself  overcome 
the  first  difficulty,  and  the  rest  will  follow.  Among  the  best  of  these  man- 
uals, by  reason  of  the  simplicity  and  clearness  of  its  plan  and  the  good 
English  in  which  it  is  written,  is  "  How  to  Write  Clearly,''  by  the  Rev. 
Edwin  A.  Abbott,  M.A.,  head  master  of  the  City  of  London  School, — 
an  admirable  little  book,  published  by  Roberts  Brothers,  Boston."  —  Home 
and  SlIwoI. 


Sold  by  all  Booksellers.     Mailed,  postpaid.,   by  the  Pub- 
lishers., 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS,    Boston. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


50to-7,'69(N296s4) — 0-120 


-m.       .W' 


AA    000  560  162    0 


H 


i 


Is 
•  = 

0  = 


ss 
u 
if 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
THIS  BOOK  CARD      ', 

3  1  'fo  i 

University  Research  Library 


1  E 


■•;;vi;;<i»y<y;i'i 


e.>'(i''*'i ; 


